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HYPNOTISM 



AND 



HYPNOTIC SUGGESTION 



A SCIENTIFIC TREATISE Ott THE USES 

AND POSSIBILITIES OF HYPNOTISM, SUG- 
GESTION AND ALLIED PHENOMENA. 



THIRTY AUTHORS. 



EDITED BY 

/ 




E. VIRGIL NEAL, A. M., 


, LL. D.> 


AND 




CHARLES S. CLARK, 


M. A. 


NEW YORK STATE PUBLISHING COMPANY, 


Rochester, N. Y. 





75202 



Library of Comjresa 

Two Copies Received 

NOV 13 1900 

. Copyright artiv 

SECOND COPY 

Odw«r«d to 

ORDER DIVISION 

dec 6 iyuu 






Copyrighted 1900, 

BY THE 

New York State Publishing Co. 




V 



INTRODUCTORY. 



The character of the contributors of this work is sufficient 
guarantee of its scientific presentation of the subject of Hypno- 
tism. It is designed as a compendium of this science. ~No truth 
has been knowingly omitted ; no error wittingly included. While 
the authors may differ in opinion in regard to the real underlying- 
cause of much of the phenomena, it will be observed that they 
are practically agreed on the main points at issue. 

This work coming as it does from the pens of the most 
eminent scholars and scientists of the present century, must dis- 
pel all doubts as to the reality of hypnotism, and its claim for a 
place among the sciences of to-day. — Editors. 



CONTENTS 
HYPNOTISM BY DIRECT SUGGESTION. 

By E. W. SCRIPTURE, Ph. D., Yale University. 

PAGES. 

Nothing unnatural or occult in the phenomena of hypno- 
tism — Present Mysteries in Conformity with the Laws of 
Nature — Essential Factors of Hypnotism — Giving Sug- 
gestions — An Experiment — "Suggestionizing" Large 
Classes of People — Control of Hearers by Orators, 
Preachers, and Singers — An Incident — "Not Guilty" — 
Cause of Suggestibility — Explanation og Cures Per- 
formed at Religious Shrines — Natural leaders of men 
gain attention and confidence of others — Uses of Sugges- 
tionizing — Bad Habits Cured — Suggestion Without 
Hypnotizing — The Defects of Character Remedied — 
Fundamental Principles of Character the Results of 
Suggestion — Timidity and Bashf ulness Cured 1-4 

SUGGESTION AS USED AND MISUSED IN CURING 
DISEASE. 

By "W. P. CARR, M. D., Professor of Physiology, Columbian University, 

Surgeon to the Emergency Hospital, District of Columbia, 

Associate Surgeon to the University Hospital. 

The Connecting; Link Between Mind and Matter — Two 
Brains — Application of Nerve Force — Telepathy — Mag- 
netic Affinity of Minds — -All Persons Subject To Sug- 
gestion; — Wonderful Cures by Hypnotism — Removal of 
Tumors, Imaginary and Real — Suggestion as an Adjunct 
in the Treatment of Disease — All Physicians Should Use 
Suggestion — Deception Not Necessary 5-17 



VI CONTENTS. 

SOME UNNOTED ASPECTS OF HYPNOTISM. 

By ERNEST CARROLL MOORE, LL. D., Ph. D., Department of Philos- 
ophy of the University of California. 

PAGES. 

An Analysis of Hypnotism — Ideas Are Eorces — The 
Amazing Credulity of Men — All Men At All Times 
Open To Suggestion: — Susceptibility To Innuencee in the 
Waking State — Mind Controls Man — Strength, Rather 
Than Weakness of Will, Marks a Good Subject — Pop- 
ular Oratory Called "Spell Binding" — The Deceiving of 
the People All the Time a Factor— The Power To Make 
Converts — The Line Which Divides Suggestion From 
Hypnotism 18-23 

ANIMAL HYPNOTISM. 

By ROBERT M. YERKES, A. M., Harvard University. 

Hypnosis in the Crayfish — Sitting Hen Readily Changed 
from Nest to Nest — Braid's Method — Luy's Rotating 
Mirror — Kataplexie — Wild Animals More Susceptible 
—The Central Nervous System 24-31 

HOW TO CONTROL PEOPLE IN THEIR WAKING 
STATE. 

By El VIRGIL NEAL, A. M., LL. D. 

Controlling People Without Their Knowledge — Against 
Their Will — Unconscious Use of Hypnotism — A Posi- 
tively Certain Method — How To Give Suggestions — 
The Power of Fascination — Everybody a Hypnotist — 
New and Improved Methods — How To Be Sure of Suc- 
cess — Entertainments, Scientific Demonstrations — Orig- 
inal and Absolutely Certain Methods of Controlling 
People in the Waking State 32-43 

HYPNOTISM. 

By CARL SEXTUS. 

The Three States — Cataleptic, Lethargic and Somnambu- 
listic — The Study of Hypnotic Suggestion Should Be 
Obligatory in Medical Schools — Curing by the Royal 
Touch — Thoughts Are Things — Thought Waves — Auto- 



CONTENTS. 



or Self - Hypnotism — Hypnotism and Telepathy — Hyp- 
notism at a Distance — Curing Disease at a Distance — 
Telepathy — Soul-semitiveness — Mistaken Intellect. . . .49-91 



SUGGESTION IN TRANCE PHENOMENA. 

By H. S. DRAYTON, M. D., of Bellevue Medical College, New York City. 

The Nancy Method — Charcot, Braid, Liebanlt — The Pro- 
duction of Trance — The Doctrine of Fluid Force — 
Methods Commonly Employed for Hypnosis — An Ex- 
periment — The Relation of Rapport Between Subject 
and Agent — The Somnambulistic State — The Psychic 
-Elements of the Human Soul — Relief of Persons Under 
the Control of Others 95-102 



MORBID SUBJECTIVE IMPRESSIONS AND THEIR 

ERADICATION THROUGH HYPNOTIC 

SUGGESTION. 

By ALFRED REGINALD ALLEN, M. D., Assistant in Neurology at 
the Philadelphia Polytechnic Hospital. 

Hysteria — Disorders of the Subjective Mind — Remedies 
and Results — Some Cases Cited — A Peculiar Case — The 
Subjective Mind Gathers Information of Which the Ob- 
jective Mind is Ignorant — Delusions Dispelled — Tact a 
Necessity — Treatment of Children Subject to Night Ter- 
rors — The Attributes of the Successful Operator. . . .103-108 



SUGGESTIVE THERAPEUTICS. 

By THOS. F. ADKIN, Dean of the New York Institute of 
Physicians and Surgeons. 

Treatment Similar in All Diseases — Power of Suggestion — 
Headache — Rheumatism — Heart Disease — Paralysis- — 
Stomach Trouble — Pains in the Back — Hypnotism in 
Anesthesia — Surgery — Suggestion in Dentistry — Per- 
nicious Habits — Tobacco Habit in All Its Forms — 
Morphine Habit — Auto- and Self -Hypnosis 109-116 



CONTENTS. 

HYPNOTISM AS AN AID IN MEDICINE. 

By G. S. LINCOLN, M. D. 



PAGES. 



Hypnotic Suggestion Cures — Cures Effected by Readjusted 
Eorces — Influence of Auto-Suggestion — Confidence 
versus Skill — Suggestion Never Poisonous — Can Always 
Be Used — Fallacies of Christian Scientists — Suggestions 
in the Waking State 117-119 



HOW TO HYPNOTIZE DIFFICULT SUBJECTS. 

By L. B. HAWLEY, M. D., New York Polyclinic College. 

Instantaneous Hypnotism — Hypnotism and Surgery- — 
Every Person a Subject by Charpentier's Method — 
Value of This Method to the Experimenting Operator — 
Instantaneous Hypnotism and Post-Hypnotic Suggestion 
— A Certain Method of Hypnotizing Refractory Sub- 
jects When All Other Methods Fail ". . .120-122 



PERSONAL MAGNETISM. 

By CHAS. S. CLARK, M. A. 

Uses of Personal Magnetism — Historical Illustrations — 
Hypnotism Related to Personal Magnetism — Relation 
of Will-Power to Personal Magnetism — Capable of Cul- 
tivation — How to Cultivate It — Methods Employed — 
Practical Explanations 123-129 



HYPNOTIC STATES AND THEIR NEXT OF KIN. 

By WM. ROMAINE NEWBOLD, Ph. D., University of Pennsylvania. 

Salient Phenomena of the Hypnotic State — The Agencies 
Used in the Production of Hypnosis — Hypnotizing by 
Suggestion Alone — Suggested Anesthesia — Memory In- 
fluenced for the Better — Post-Hypnotic Suggestion — 
Rapport — Trance and Ecstacy — Hysteria — Hypnotic 
Anesthesia '.....' 130-13£ 



CONTENTS. IX 

THE FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES OF HYPNOTISM.. 

By THOMSON JAY HUDSON, Author of "Hudson's Law of Psychic 

Phenomena," "A Scientific Demonstration of the Future 

Life," "The Divine Pedigree of Man," Etc. 

PAGES. 

Conditions of Safe and Successful Practice of Hypnotism — 
The Interpretation of Hypnotic Phenomena — The Two 
Minds of Man — Conflicting Theories — Application of 
Mental Therapeutics — Auto-Suggestion — False Sugges- 
tions in Matters of Importance Not Accepted — The 
Danger Line in Hypnotism 140-145 



HISTOKY OF HYPNOTISM. 

By MAX DESSOIR, M. D., Ph. D., Professor of Philosophy, 
University of Berlin. 

The Problem of the Relationship of Sleep to Hypnotism — 
Discussions by Scientific Journals — Original Theories of 
Bentipegni, Forel, Moll, Schrenk and Notzing — The 
Two Phases of Hypnotism — Sub-Conscious Psychical 
Activity — Double Ego — Trance Speaking 146-148 

SOME MANIFESTATIONS OF DOUBLE CONSCIOUS- 
NESS AND THEIR RELATION TO HYPNOTISM. 

By CLARK WISSLER, Fellow in Psychology, Columbia University. 

Impressions in Automatic Writing — Induced Double Per- 
sonality — An Experiment — The Manner of Receiving 
Impressions — Commands Given the Hypnotic Personr 
ality Afterwards Executed at the Appointed Time by the 
Normal Personality — Post-Hypnotic Suggestion — Who 
May Be Hypnotized — Tests for Susceptibility — The 
Hypnotic Personality in Possession of the Memory 
Store ' 149-155 

SUGGESTIBILITY. 

By JOHN W. SLAUGHTER, A. B., B. D., University of Michigan. 

Theories of Schmidkung, Sidis, Bernheim, Lehmann, Jenet 
and Others — The Reaction of Consciousness — Conclu- 
sions in Regard to Suggestibility — A Peculiar Aspect of 
the Hypnotic Condition — Rapport 156-150 



X CONTENTS. 

DOUBLE AND MULTIPLE IDENTITY. 

By ALICE HAMLIN HINMAN, A. B., Ph. D., University of Nebraska. 

PAGES. 

Temporary Losses of Personal Identity in Normal Life — 
The Merging of Personality in Our Own Creations — 
The Artist Seer or Prophet Caught Up Into a State of 
Activity — An Accurate Memory of One's Past Retained 
in Hypnosis — Subliminal Consciousness — The Human 
Mind Transcends Time and Space — The Laws of the 
Psychical World 160-167 

EXTRA PERSONAL CONTROL IN HYPNOTISM. 

By POWELL BENTON REYNOLDS, D. D., West Virginia University. 

Psychosis in Mental Activity — Reflex Action without Psy- 
chosis — An Explanation of Hypnotic Control — How 
Hypnotism Is Induced — The Surrender of Attention — 
True Hypnotic Control — Habitual or Semi-Reflex Ac- 
tion — Relation Between Hypnosis and Willed Action — 
Hypnotic Control of Perceptions — Hypnotic Control of 
Emotions — Relief of Disease — Hypnosis 168-176 

CURATIVE HYPNOTISM. 

By ARTHUR MAC DONALD. Bureau of Education, Washington, D. C. 

Production of Hypnotic Sleep — Curative Effects of Hyp- 
notic Sleep — Suggestion Beneficial to All Morbid Af- 
fections — Suggestion During Natural Sleep — Suggestion 
Without Mesmerism — Mesmerism Without Suggestion 
— Suggestions to Large Numbers of Persons 177-182 

PSYCHOLOGIC BASIS OF HYPNOTISM— VOLUN- 
TARY AND NON-VOLUNTARY POWERS. 

By GABRIEL CAMPBELL, M. Bel., D. D., Dartmouth College. 

Discrimination of Self and the World — Man as a Spiritual 
Being — Imitation and Idea — Motor Action — Ideals as 
Working Eorces — Hypnotic Control — Commands to 
Immoral Action Cause a Refusal 183-188 



CONTENTS. XI 

THE SCIENTIFIC VALUE OF HYPNOTISM. 

By J. MARK BALDWIN, Ph. D., Princeton University. 

PAGES. 

Treating — Suggestion — Controlling Effects of Action Both 
During and After Hypnosis — Limit to Automatism of 
the Hypnotized Subject — Suggestions of Actions Re- 
fused — The Real Cause of Functional Troubles — The 
Operations of Memory — Unconscious or Secondary 
Self '. 189-192 

TRANCE AND SUGGESTION IN THE CHRISTIAN 
RELIGION. 

By PROFESSOR JAMES H. LEUEA, Ph. D., Bryn Mawr College. 

The Efficacy of Ideas — Suggestion Need Not, to be Effec- 
tive, be Practiced During Hypnotic Sleep — Mystical 
Ecstacy — The Contemplative State — Divine Raptures — 
Science Explains These Obsolete, Voluptuous Wonders — 
Religious Imagery — Christian Conversion — Circular In- 
sanity — Remarkable Examples — Psychological Science 
in Agreement with the only Interpretation that can be 
put upon the Central Idea of Theology in Process of 
Formation 193-206 

HOW TO HYPNOTIZE AND AWAKEN A SUBJECT. 

By EDWARD H. ELDRIDGE, A. M., Professor of Psychology, Temple 
College, Philadelphia, Pa. 

Awakening a Subject — To Make a Subject Fall Backward 
—To Make a Subject Fall Forward— How To Clasp the 
Hands Together — Self -Control Necessary in an Operator 
— An Interesting Experiment — Producing Sleep — ■ 
Fowler's Method of Producing Sleep — How To Create 
Illusions — How To Awaken a Subject — No Danger in 
Hypnotic Sleep — No Difficulty in Awakening Sub- 
jects 207-214 

PERSONAL MAGNETISM. 

By J. C. QUINN, Ph. D., D. D. 

Personal Magnetism an Art and a Science — Will Power — 
Personal Magnetism Enables One to Attract — Secret of 



Xll CONTENTS. 

PAGES. 

Personal Magnetism — How To Control People — The 
Law of Agreement — How To Attract — Like Begets Like 
in Thought— Of Use Under All Conditions 215-216 

MEMORY AND SUGGESTION". 

By EDWARD FRANKLIN BUCHNER, Ph. D., Professor of Analytical 

Psychology, New York University. 

Ability of the Mind to Remember — Memory Not a Recep- 
tacle for Specific Things — Retention Purely Psychologi- 
cal — The Development of Conscious or Normal Memory 
— Hypnotic Memory — Relation of Memory to Sugges- 
tion — Double Consciousness — The Phenomena of Mem- 
ory Subject to the Direction and Intensity of Suggestion 
— Limitations of Suggestion 217-226 

HYPNOTISM IN MORAL EDUCATION. 

By EDWARD D. STARBUCK, Assistant Professor of Education, Stan- 
ford University. 

Three Well Established Pacts — A Case — A Remarkable 
Transformation — Cases of Moral Cures — A Central 
Truth — PoAvers of Hypnotism — The Phenomena of 
Post-Hypnotic Suggestion — Limitations and Cautions — 
The Operator — A. Diagram — Consciousness Should Be 
Focalized 227-236 

THE FUNDAMENTAL PROBLEMS OF SUGGESTION. 

By PROFESSOR A. KIRSCHMANN, University of Toronto. 

Who Shall Say Whether an Impression is Real or a Hallu- 
cination? — States of Consciousness Possible Without 
Stimulus, Without Sense Organs, Without a Human 
Body At All — Only a Difference in Degree — Certain 
Kinds of Oratory a Kind of Hypnotic Suggestion — Tele- 
pathy No Greater Enigma Than the Propagation of 
Light — The Weak Points of a Discussion of Hypnotic 
Experiments — We State Things as Absolutely Certain 
Although We Have Never Experienced or Proved 
Them — Zollner's Figure — Pain Intensified by Auto- 
suggestion — A Summary of Considerations 237-245 



CONTENTS. xiil 

HYPNOTISM AND THE WILL. 

By JAMES ROLAND ANGELL, Director of the Psychological Labora- 
tory, University of Chicago. 

PAGES. 

Fundamental Facts and Relations — Failure to Resist Temp- 
tation — Attention an All-Important Element in the 
Execution of Volition — Two Fundamental Propositions 
— Maniacs — Melancholiacs — The Great Differentia of 
Hypnosis — Two Practical Questions of Great Interest — 
No Person Can Be Hypnotized for the First Time if He 
Believes Himself Able to Resist — Every Healthy, Sane 
Person is Essentially Susceptible to Hypnosis — Effect of 
Hypnotism Upon the Will. 246-255 

RELATION OF HYPNOTISM AND SUGGESTION. 

A. M. BLEILE, M. D., Ohio State University. 

Hypnotism and Suggestion Parallel Ordinary Sleep — Ele- 
ments of the Hypnotic State — Treatments — Awakening 
at a Fixed Time — All Persons Susceptible to Suggestion 
— Post-Hypnotic Suggestion — The Plea of Post-Hyp- 
notic Suggestion as a Defense to Criminal Actions. . .256-259 



HYPNOTISM BY DIRECT SUGGESTION. 

E. W. SCRIPTURE, Ph. D., of Tale University. 

It can be laid down as a fundamental principle that there is 
nothing unnatural or occult in the phenomena of hypnotism; 
what may appear mysterious to us at present will be found to be 
quite in conformity with the laws of nature when the facts are 
more carefully determined. 

The essential factors in most phenomena of hypnotism may 
be said to be first, the production of a sleepy or dazed condition in 
which the subject is unusually sensitive to suggestions given by 
the hypnotized, and second, the giving of suggestions that are 
followed by actions, hallucinations, etc. 

It is my belief that most of the phenomena of hypnotic 
suggestion can be produced in sane persons in a perfectly normal 
condition, by merely choosing the appropriate suggestions. 

Here is an experiment that can be performed by anyone; I 
perform it regularly every year on classes of twenty to twenty- 
five pupils. The current from a battery (or a dynamo) is sent 
through a thin wire, the strength being regulated so that the wire 
very slowly becomes warm. Each person takes such a wire be 
tween thumb and finger. He is told to say "Now" at the very 
first instant he feels the wire begin to become warm. After the 
warning "All ready" the switch is turned on with a loud snap; in 
a short time the heat is faintly felt and the subjects begin to say, 
"now" one after another. The experiment is then to be re-' 
peated a second time. The warning "All ready" is given as be- 
fore but a secret, noiseless switch is turned so that, when the other 
switch is snapped, no current passes through the wires. The sub- 
jects soon call out "Now" as before, although no heat whatever Is 
developed in the wires. In this way a pure hallucination is de- 
veloped on the basis of a mere suggestion without any of the 
preliminary manipulations common to hypnotism. 

It is especially remarkable that this can be done with a laige 
class — the larger the better. I would hardly wish to say that a 
whole class can be hypnotized, because the word "hypnotism" 



HYPNOTISM BY DIRECT SUGGESTION. 

has still a mysterious tinge, but perhaps I may be allowed to use 
the word "suggestionized." Such "suggestionizing," with or with- 
out the preliminary hypnotizing, can be carried out on groups of 
persons in various ways. Possibly some of the impossible tricks 
of the Hindoo jugglers may be due to a "suggestionizing" of the 
entire body of on-lookers. Stockton has made use of this idea in a 
fanciful tale of a whole theater-full of people who were first 
hypnotized by dazzling objects. 

This "suggestionizing" of whole bodies of people is part of 
the power possessed by certain orators, preachers, and singers. 
They have certain tones and modulations of the voice that appeal 
to the hearers irresistibly, often overpowering the judgment en- 
tirely. We have probably all felt this power of certain speakers 
over us and have perhaps been rather ashamed of it afterwards. 
Possibly I can best illustrate the case by repeating an incident 
that actually occurred in a London court. The prisoner had con- 
fessed himself guilty in an accusation of theft. The judge ap- 
pointed a rising young lawyer to defend his case at the trial. The 
lawyer induced the prisoner to withdraw his confession and enter 
a plea of "not guilty," and then conducted the case with such 
skill and eloquence that the jury brought in a verdict of "not 
guilty/ 7 although they knew of the prisoner's own confession. 
The only explanation seems to lie in attributing a hypnotizing or 
suggestionizing effect to the lawyer's eloquence. 

Quite a long series of experiments on hallucinations by sim- 
ple suggestion has been carried out under my direction by C. E. 
Seashore, who has in this way produced hallucinations of sounds, 
smells and even of actual objects in large numbers of perfectly 
normal persons without any preliminary hypnotizing.* In 
one experiment the subject was told to approach from the far- 
ther side of the room until he could see a blue bead on a black 
circle ; when he saw it, he was to look down at a tape measure be- 
side him and read off the distance. The experiment would be re- 
peated about ten times, the subject seeing the bead every time 
and reading off the distance, thereafter the bead was secretly re- 
moved. 

*See studies from the Yale Psychological Laboratory, 1895, Vol. 3. 



HYPNOTISM BY DIKECT SUGGESTION. 

The subject would continue to repeat the experiment, seeing 
the bead every time, although no bead was present. The sug- 
gestion of the previous experiments was thus enough to produce a 
distinct hallucination of sight. This experiment was repeated on 
many persons without a single failure. In another experiment 
the subject was warned by a click of a telegraph sounder when to 
expect a faint sound; he was to press a key when he heard the 
sound. The sound was actually produced for a few times. 
After that it was unnecessary; the sounder would click and 
shortly afterwards the subject would press the key to show that he 
had heard the sound, although no sound was present. 
/ In still another experiment a few trials at smelling a bottle 
with a faint perfume in it was sufficient to cause the subject to 
(always perceive a perfume in a bottle of odorless water. 

The cause of this suggestibility lies undoubtedly in a strong 
concentration of the attention on one thing, whereby the sugges- 
tions from outside are enabled to influence the subject without 
his being able to control the effect. 

The method of hypnotizing used in Paris by the Abbe de 
Faria and in Nancy by the later hypnotizers showed an under- 
standing of the power of this principle of direct suggestion. The 
Abbe de Faria was accustomed to throw his subjects into the hyp- 
notic condition by the command "Dormez." The men of the 
Nancy school would tell the subject that he was becoming sleepy, 
that his lids were already drooping, etc. 

"With very susceptible persons and with those who have been 
often hynotized, it is frequently sufficient to simply say "Sleep" 
or to make some sudden ejaculation, or even to look fixedly into 
the eyes. Here we have again the strong concentration of atten- 
tion that leaves the subject without full control of his faculties. 

"We ought, perhaps, to restrict the term "hypnotizing" to the 
production of the sleepy condition and to use the term "sugges- 
tionizing" for the phenomena produced by suggestion with or 
without preliminary hypnotizing. The hypnotizing is for the 
purpose of gaining fixation of attention; it is unnecessary when 
the concentration of attention can be gained in some other way. 

In some such suggestionizing as this without hypnotizing, T 
believe we shall find the explanation of the cures that have been 



HYPNOTISM BY DIEECT SUGGESTION. 

actually performed at religious shrines, such as the Grotto 
of Lourdes. It is undoubtedly the secret of the beneficial effect of 
some physicians on the health of their patients, and of the inspir- 
ing contact of certain great preachers and leaders of men. 

By a strikingly impressive appearance, by a well modulated 
but firm voice, or by a pleasing manner, a natural leader of men 
gains the attention and confidence of others and makes them 
susceptible to his suggestion. 

Among the many uses to which suggestionizing may be put, I 
will mention only two whose importance will at once strike the 
reader. Various bad habits can be cured. I know of several 
boys, victims of an uncontrollable desire for cigarettes, who were 
cured by hypnotizing and receiving the suggestion that they did 
not like cigarettes any more. I also know of a number of drunk- 
ards cured in the same way. The same result can frequently be 
attained by suggestion without hypnotizing; this occurs at reviv- 
als, temperance meetings, salvation army meetings and the like. 

Various defects of character can be remedied. Inattentive, 
wilful, malicious, untruthful or violent boys can frequently be so 
modified by hypnotic suggestion as to become sound and healthy- 
minded fellows. But what can be done in a brief time by first 
hypnotizing the boys it is the duty of parents and teachers to ac- 
complish slowly and patiently by years of direct suggestion. Our 
fundamental principles of character are, after all, mainly the re- 
sults of suggestions received from our environment. 

Defects of timidity, bashfulness, terror of darkness and the 
like can be likewise cured. 



SUGGESTION AS USED AND MISUSED IN CURING DISEASE. 

By "W. P. CARR, M. D., Professor Physiology, Columbian University. 
Surgeon to the Emergency Hospital, D. C. Associate Surgeon to the 
University Hospital. 

In order to explain the phenomena of hypnosis, and allied 
conditions, a number of writers have assumed a duality of mind, 
and speak of subjective mind and objective* mind as distinct 
entities. Such an assumption seems to me unnecessary, and con- 
trary to the evidence of established anatomical facts. Even if we 
accept telepathy, which is hardly proven, and so-called astral pro- 
jections, which are far from proven, we need not go beyond the 
laws of physics and physiology to find the explanation. Sub- 
jective and objective mind are purely arbitrary terms, and the 
hypothesis that called them into existence does not coincide with 
the facts of anatomy and physiology. 

"So much the worse for anatomy and physiology" says the 
ultra psychologist. "You cannot expect to measure mirid, which 
is immaterial, by the laws of material bodies." True, it is ex- 
ceedingly difficult to form even a definition, or conception, of 
abstract mind or consciousness ; but it is equally difemlt to define 
or conceive of electricity. Yet, we know the laws that govern 
electricity so well, that we can trace its mechanism of connection 
with matter and use it in many practical ways. We may also 
trace the mechanism connecting mind and matter with little less 
accuracy. 

Physiology teaches us that the connecting link between con- 
scious mind and the material world is to be found in certain brain 
cells. That mind, in fact, is as much a creature of these brain 
cells as electricity is of the Galvanic cell. Embryology shows 
how these brain cells precede the realization of conscious being, 
and produce as they mature step by step, first, muscular move- 
ments, then, sensation of an automatic nature, and finally, the 
higher faculties of conscious being. 

We know that this marvelous brain is composed of many 
groups of cells having different and more or less independent 

*Por full explanation of the subjective and objective mind, the reader 
is referred to Hudson's "Law of Psychic Phenomena."— Editor. 



SUGGESTION AS USED AND MISUSED IN CUBING DISEASE. 

functions and, yet, that all these groups are closely connected by 
nerve fibres so as to form one harmonious whole. We know that 
most of these groups of cells at times go into an inactive or resting 
state which we call sleep, and that this condition varies consid- 
erably in degree. Some of the causes of sleep, and conditions of 
the cells during sleep, are quite well understood. Physical 
changes, that are well marked, take place in the cell during its 
activity, and the normal condition is restored during sleep. It is 
also a well established fact that some groups of cells may sleep 
while others do not, and that some groups or centers sleep more 
easily than others. 

It is quite sure that the centers of consciousness to present 
surroundings are the first, as a rule, to sleep, and that some of the 
automatic centers, such as the heart and respiratory centers, are 
the most difficult to influence in this respect. Drugs, such as 
chloroform, opium, and alcohol, readily produce unconsciousness 
to present surroundings while memory is still awake, and special 
senses and automatic centers still active. Pushed to a more ad- 
vanced stage these drugs finally overcome all the various centers, 
even those governing the heart and respiration. The last centers 
to appear in the development of the brain are usually the first to 
sleep, whether this sleep be produced by natural or artificial 
means. " /" -A ■ 

Inhibitory centers are among the latest to make their appear- 
ance, attain their greatest vigor late in life and succumb readily 
to hypnotic influences. When, by any means, the cells for appre- 
ciation of present surroundings and the inhibitory centers arc 
sleep, other active centers become unusually responsive to sug- 
gestions coming through any of the senses. Reflexes that are 
normally or usually under inhibitory control, act with remarkable 
freedom and certainty, and responses to suggestion are sure. We 
have not two brains, but practically hundreds of brains, all inti- 
mately connected, but more or less independent; and it is by 
putting to sleep various sub-brains or centers and leaving others 
active that the phenomena of hypnotism are produced. 

Sir William Crookes has furnished a very plausible hypothe- 
sis for the explanation of telepathy, by comparing it with wireless 
telegraphy. !N~erve force is so much like electricity that we may 



1/ 



SUGGESTION AS USED AND MISUSED IN CURING DISEASE. 

readilvb elievejbrain activity capable of producing waves similar ^^f- 1 
t o the Hertzian waves that make wireless telegraphy possible. 
And it seems within the bounds of reasonable probability to sup- 
pose that these waves of brain force may be appreciated by other 
properly tuned brains, just as the Hertzian waves are appreciated 
by distant electrical apparatus properly tuned to receive them. 
But Liebault and Bernheim have shown that hypnotic subjects 
are at all times amenable to suggestion, and this does not in any 
sense imply weak-mindedness. (, Indeed the weak-minded, and 
insane, and those on the borderland of insanity, are most difficult 
to hypnotize. ] *-' 

Actual experiments, and the history of therapeutic sugges- 
tions, show that nearly all persons are more or less subject to the 
influence of suggestion, while in their normal condition, and that 
the force and certainty with which suggestion acts will depend 
more upon the absolute faith with which it is received than upon 
any abnormal or artificial condition of the mind per se. During 
hypnosis all forms of inhibition and rational objection are re- 
duced to a minimum. The most absurd statements are received 
without question as facts, and, for this reason, produce powerful 
and lasting impressions. 

Suggestion has been used as a therapeutic measure, with or 
without the aid of actual hypnotism, from the earliest times, and 
its history, ander its various shapes and guises, forms one of the 
most interesting side lights for the study of human nature. Pure 
suggestion, with more or less impressive ceremony and parapher- 
nalia, used to increase the faith of the patient, was undoubtedly 
the active ingredient of the incantations of ancient priests, the 
enchantments of the negroes, the cures of Indian Voodoo doctors, 
the magic formulae of Aesculapius, the sympathetic powder of 
Paracelsus, the king's cure, the cures at Lourdes and by numer- 
ous saintly relics and waters. Astonishing numbers of cures of 
all imaginable diseases and conditions have been reported from 
these sources. 

Greatrakes and Gassner, and their many followers and imi- 
tators, cured thousands, and amassed fortunes in so doing. Per- 
kins devised rods of zinc and copper that he called "tractors," 
which were supposed to produce electricity and draw any disease 



SUGGESTION AS USED AND MISUSED IN CUEING DISEASE. 

from the body. He had genuine certificates from over 5,000 
persons stating that they had been cured of diseases of every 
imaginable kind, including cancer, by the use of the tractors. He 
had a factory in New England, and later a hospital in London, 
but could not supply the demand for tractors at $25.00 apiece. 
But Perkins was the victim of cannibalistic quacks, who made 
tractors of wood and sold them at great profit at a time when the 
demand exceeded the supply. The wooden tractors did as well 
as the genuine, and, when this fact leaked out, the force of sug- 
gestion was gone and Perkinism collapsed. The Oxydonor is a 
modern revival of Perkins's tractors and thousands of them are 
being sold. Metalo-therapy is now known to depend upon sug- 
gestion for its efficacy, and yet so efficacious has it been that 
some scientific men of no mean attainments, have believed in it. 
Electropoise, electric belts, magnetic brushes and waters, and 
shoe soles, are variations of Perkinism only in name. 

Mind Cure, Paith Cure, Animal Magnetism, Christian Sci- 
ence, and Osteopathy, to say nothing of the thousands of name- 
less "pathies," quacks and quackeries that infest the land are all 
forms of employing suggestion. And each and every sect and 
"path" not only claims its thousands of cures, but can produce 
thousands of honest persons who will testify that they have been 
cured by one or the other of these means. And not only so ; but 
every known disease is included in the cures. At first glance this 
seems amazing, but the explanation is simple. 

Patients of such quacks and combinations of quackery, may 
be divided for convenience into five classes: 

I. Those having self -limited diseases that will get well under 
any treatment that does not interfere with nature. 

II. Cases that receive, in addition to suggestion, some appro- 
priate medical treatment. 

III. Cases of imaginary disease, having no real existence. 

IV. Cases suitable for suggestive treatment, that are really 
cured. 

V. Failures. AJarge class of which we hear little. 

The first class (self-limited diseases) comprises most acute, 
and some chronic maladies, and includes more than half of all 
the diseases known to man. 



SUGGESTION AS USED AND MISUSED IN CURING DISEASE. 

The second class is not uncommon in the practice of Osteopa- 
thy, Hydrotherapy, Botanic Medicine, etc., as the followers of 
such sects have frequently some knowledge of medicine. 

Imaginary diseases are much more common than is generally 
supposed, and are usually of a very serious nature. Patients 
frequently imagine heart disease, Bright's Disease or cancer; but 
seldom imagine mild or trivial affections. It is also easy to pro- 
duce imaginary diseases by suggestion, when there is some slight 
ailment or pain to work upon. The skilful quack, who gains the 
confidence of his patient, may easily make him believe he has 
cancer of the liver, aneurism of the aorta, or in fact any disease 
from infantile convulsions to senile debility; and may then pro- 
ceed leisurely to cure him. The cure is usually as long as the 
patient's pocketbook; but if he be needed for advertising pur- 
poses it may be remarkably short. There are few healthy men 
who do not occasionally get a pain in the chest, back or abdomen, 
due to some trivial cause. The sickly man would pay no atten- 
tion to such a thing. He is used to pain. But to the healthy 
man it is unusual and alarming. The assurance of a doctor may 
easily turn this pain into a pleurisy, nephritis or appendicitis. 

What an opportunity for the quack and how skilfully he 
uses it ! How skilfully he disseminates his circulars and news- 
paper advertisements w T ith this end in view ! How many men can 
read the advertisement of a genius in this line, without getting 
at least an uncomfortable feeling, and a suspicion of some insid- 
ious, lurking disease? The imaginary disease is common, easy to 
produce, and often hard to cure. 

The fourth class, or cases suitable for suggestive treatment, 
will be considered later. 

The fifth class — failures — is a large and silent"* one of which 
little is heard by the public. Yet every man knows of one or 
two, and the aggregate is very large. These cases stray off to 
other quack?, after a time; and usually come to a physician at 
last. Sometimes they come in time to be cured, and sometime? 
not. Usually they come when turned off for lack of funds, and 
the real physician does what he can for charity's sake. 

Thus, from the earliest days, suggestion has been used in- 
discriminately, unscientificallv, and in a manner that savored 



SUGGESTION AS USED AND MISUSED IN CUEING DISEASE. 

always so strongly of quackery as to bring it into very bad re- 
pute. That it has done good cannot be denied. While its bad 
repute has prevented reputable physicians from using suggestion, 
openly as a therapeutic means; yet, under other names, and often 
unconsciously, it has been used by them with great advantage. 
Every physician has sometime given a placebo with good effect, 
though he may not have thought of it as suggestive treatment. 
Every physician of repute knows that his reputation is a great aid 
to him in curing disease, and that his personal influence or per- 
sonal magnetism is of great value. He is often unconscious of 
the fact that these things are of value because they make his 
patients believe in him, and believe his suggestions. 

But the time has come when the true value of suggestion 
should be known, and its use placed upon a scientific and honest 
basis. We must know what diseases it may cure, what diseases it 
may aid in curing or alleviating, and how to use it. There are 
few classes of diseases that suggestion alone can cure; but they 
are common diseases, and the number of cases is large. It may 
be said that only imaginary diseases, and functional diseases,* are 
amenable to this treatment alone; but in nearly all diseases sug- 
gestion is a valuable aid to other treatment. As I have already 
said, imaginary diseases are very common, and often have a real 
foundation in dyspepsia, anaemia, rheumatism, or some less 
serious real disease. Eor example, a dyspeptic usually has inter- 
costal neuralgia, or palpitation of the heart, or both. The pain 
and discomfort in what he considers the region of his heart, sug- 
gests heart disease. The heart disease finally becomes to him a 
fixed reality. He may even go from one physician to another, 
receiving from each an assurance that his heart is sound, without 
being convinced or relieved. He will be questioned as to the 
symptoms of heart diseases, or angina. He learns them and then 

*The general reader must not infer that functional diseases are in any 
sense imaginary diseases. Diseases which show no well-defined lesions or 
change of structure in the organ are considered functional. Such diseases 
comprise the majority of complaints that the general practitioner is called 
upon to treat. Many diseases that once were considered functional are now 
known to be organic — that is, their anatomical changes have been discovered. 
Many of our very best physicians contend that hypnotic suggestion will cure 
diseases of all classes. Bernheim has used it efficaciously in both organic 
and functional disturbances. Moll, Tuckey, Bramwell and Liebault have 
had similar experiences. Medicine, however, is a good thing to use with 
hypnotic suggestion, even in treating imaginary diseases, as usually a desir- 
able mental effect is produced by the medicine itself.— Editor. 

10 



SUGGESTION AS USED AND MISUSED IN CUEING DISEASE. 

he feels them. He finally describes them so accurately that his 
suspicions are confirmed by a diagnosis of angina pectoris, a 
painful and fatal disease. He becomes miserable, wastes away, 
and may even die of his imaginary complaint. 

We are all familiar with the classic experiment of pretending 
to bleed a condemned criminal to death and actually causing his 
death, though no blood was really shed. This experiment shows 
the remarkable power of suggestion in producing illness. I have 
seen a number of cases near death from imaginary disease; but 
have not seen any actually die. Hysteria is a common disease in 
which imagination plays so large a part, that it might almost be 
considered as imaginary; but there is a real basis, usually, for the 
symptoms in some functional disorder and sometimes in organic 
disease, such as gastro-intestinal catarrh. Indeed, so frequently 
do we find atonic-dyspepsia and gastro-intestinal catarrh associ- 
ated with neurasthenia and hysteria, that many have been inclined 
to regard the latter diseases as symptoms of the former, and more 
especially so from the fact that treatment which improves the 
digestive tract always results in coincident improvement of the 
nervous phenomena. 

On the other hand, however, purely suggestive treatment, by 
benefiting the nervous element, often results in improved diges- 
tion. The best results are to be obtained by using both methods. 
Medicines and diet not only act directly upon the alimentary 
tract, but aid in suggesting cure, and give faith in assurances of 
improvement and recovery, by relieving disagreeable symptoms. 
That fright, grief, and worry are capable of stopping the flow of 
gastric juice, and thereby causing aggravated forms of indiges- 
tion and malnutrition, is a well known fact, and one susceptible 
of easy physiological explanation. That imagination is capable 
of producing an enlarged and tender knee joint, with most of the 
physical signs of inflammation, as has been proved by Dr. Weir 
Mitchell, is not easily explained, but is none the less a fact. 

It, therefore, becomes a difficult matter to draw a sharp line 
between imaginary diseases and functional diseases, or even be- 
tween imaginary diseases and organic lesions. There are many 
ills, however, such as mechanical and chemical injuries, and 
germ diseases, in which imagination cannot bear a causative re- 



SUGGESTION AS USED AND MISUSED IN CUEING DISEASE. 

lation. But, even here, suggestion may aid recovery, by preserv- 
ing a healthy nutrition. It has no effect upon the micro-organ- 
isms causing the disease ; nor can it hold a broken bone in place. 
But it may so aid nutrition that the body cells will produce more 
and better antitoxin, and more and better plastic material for 
uniting a bone held in place by suitable splints. Suggestion can- 
not remove a needle from the flesh, but I have seen it completely 
relieve the pain, when the patient was made to believe it had been 
removed. 

In general terms it may be said that suggestion is a valuable 
factor in the treatment of disease, but that it should seldom be 
employed to the exclusion of other remedies and never to the 
exclusion of other remedies that are clearly indicated. Even in 
imaginary diseases the best results are attained, at times, only by 
the combined use of hygienic, dietetic and medicinal treatment, 
with careful and persistent suggestion. It should, therefore, only 
be used by competent physicians,* as morphia or other powerful 
drugs are used. It takes a well educated physician to decide 
whether a disease is imaginary, or due to some dangerous anatom- 
ical lesion. A man with appendicitis may have his pain relieved 
by morphia or by suggestion. For pain is greatly aggravated by 
the belief that it is dangerous, and if the patient can be per- 
suaded that there is nothing serious the matter, he will bear it 
with amazing fortitude and cheerfulness. Indeed, if his belief is 
absolute, it will practically abolish pain. But neither morphia 
nor suggestion are good treatment for appendicitis, until the 
offending member has been removed, for neither will prevent 
perforation of the bowel, peritonitis and death. After the real 
danger has been removed either or both may be judiciously used 
to facilitate recovery. 

/ In order to use suggestion to advantage it is of prime im- 
portance to have the confidence of the patient, as its effectiveness 
will be in direct ratio to the degree of belief he places in the 
statements of the operator. ) There are several ways of gaining 
this confidence, but only one legitimate way. The method of the 

*It must not be inferred from the above that hypnotism is within itself : 
dangerous. Hypnotic sleep is a quiet, restful condition, absolutely free from 
any injurious effects. Hypnotism does not weaken the will nor in any sense 
impair the health or mental faculties of the patisstt.— Editor. 



AJudyjjUJ', 



SUGGESTION AS USED AND MISUSED IN CURING DISEASE. 

quack has ever been by the display of novel and striking ma- 
chinery or ceremony, coupled with loud assurance of power, and 
numerous testimonials. Many persons are impressed by such 
methods, when they will not admit it even to themselves, and 
while outwardly scoffing. | The legitimate method of the true 
physician is to have the real power of knowledge and use it with 
scientific accuracy. This is the slow and laborious way; but even 
the successful quack, who has left it, under the temptation for 
quicker returns, often wishes himself back in the legitimate 
track, knowing that his career will be short. The day of bluffing 
in medicine is fast approaching its end. The man of real ability 
and honesty will gain a reputation for these qualities sooner than 
he thinks, and this reputation, once established, will go far to- 
ward giving him the confidence of his patients. If he will then 
display to them a kindly and sympathetic interest, the thing is 
done. Personal appearance has something to do with success in 
this line; but much less than is generally supposed. Many insig- 
nificant looking men have succeeded remarkably well; but they 
have been men of unusual knowledge and force of character. 
The physician must listen with interest to symptoms, and make 
careful examinations, to assure himself of the actual conditions, 
and, no less, to assure the patient that he has done so. Then, if 
he find only an imaginary disease, a simple assurance to that 
effect will be all that is necessary,! provided he can make his ~^ciu^ 
patient believe it.') Often he must admit a functional disturb- 
ance and proceed by the suggestion of medicine, and assurance of 
speedy cure, to make the sufferer believe; or, deeply rooted in 
his conviction, he will leave in disgust, and go to another physi- 
cian, and another, until he finds one who will agree with him and 
treat him as long as he will come and pay. For example, I once 
had a lady come to me for treatment for uterine disease. She 
had been under treatment for ten years by a prominent gynae- 
cologist, and he had died. She never expected to be well, but 
hoped I would be able to keep her alive, and in some degree of 
comfort, as her former physician had done so long. 

I found her perfectly well in every way, except her imagina- 
tion. But I could not tell her so, for she had unbounded faith in 
her former physician, and would not have believed anyone who 

13 



SUGGESTION AS USED AND MISUSED IN CURING DISEASE. 

contradicted him. She was much surprised and pleased, how- 
ever, by the suggestion that she had now reached a stage where 
she might soon be cured, and received the accustomed treatment. 
At the second visit remarkable improvement was suggested. At 
the third visit she was told that she was practically well and at 
the fourth, completely so. She believed, and has remained well 
physically and mentally. 

On the other hand I had a lady visit me who had been told 
by her physician that she had angina pectoris, and was likely to 
die in any of her attacks. She was taking nitroglycerin, by his 
direction, which produced severe headache. She was miserable, 
suffered severe attacks of pain at frequent intervals, expected to 
die soon in one of these attacks, and gave a very exact summary 
of the symptoms of angina, as she had unconsciously learned 
them from her physician. I examined her carefully and found 
she had nothing worse than atonic dyspepsia and intercostal neu- 
ralgia. She had perfect confidence in me, and a simple assur- 
ance of her true condition, not only cured the imaginary angina, 
but practically cured the dyspepsia and neuralgia, which, I have 
no doubt, were perpetuated by fright and worry?) v 

One more case in this connection is of interest. A stout, 
hearty colored girl, 19 years old, came to me saying she had run 
a needle into the calf of her leg and broken it off. I assured her 
it would give her no trouble and could find no trace of it upon 
examination. In about a week she came back, limping* and com- 
plaining of severe pain in the leg, and insisted upon my cutting 
out the needle. I told her I would have to do much cutting and 
might not be able to find it after all; but, as she insisted, I made 
an incision, with cocaine anaesthesia, over the spot she pointed 
out. I made a large incision, felt carefully in all directions, but 
found no needle. I had prepared a piece of needle correspond- 
ing to her description of the piece in her leg, and dropped it on 
the floor where she would see it. Just as I told her I could not 
find the needle she spied the piece on the floor. She examined 
it, was sure it was the same one she had in her leg, and that it had 
dropped out without my seeing it. Several years have elapsed, 
but she has had no more pain in the leg. So powerful was the 
suggestion that the pain, real or imaginary, was cured at once. I 

14 



SUGGESTION AS USED AND MISUSED IN CUEING DISEASE. 

"believe the needle was really in her leg, but that the pain was 
chiefly imaginary, and due to suggestion. None of these women 
were in any sense hysterical and they are only a few typical cases 
of many I have seen. I haye had numbers of patients come to 
me for the removal of tumors that did not exist; and, in some in- 
stances, it has proved a difficult matter to convince them of the 
fact. Such tumors are the ones removed by Perkinism and other 
"isms." They are imaginary tumors and imaginary cancers. (I P Q ' /^ 
do not hesitate to say, that no real cancer was ever cured by sug- 
gestion in the shape of Perkinism, Christian Science or any other 
guise. J But, that many reputable persons believe themselves to 
have been so cuxed ? /I do not doubt. 

Indeed, tumors, especially of the abdomen, are frequently 
diagnosed by competent physicians, when they either do not exist 
or shortly disappear. I have, myself, in three cases, found ab- 
dominal tumors as large as a cocoanut, that disappeared entirely 
within two weeks; and in two of these cases my diagnosis was 
confirmed by two other surgeons of ability. One old gentleman 
would probably have had an operation performed but for his age 
and feeble condition. I have had considerable experience with 
abdominal surgery, but am unable to say what these tumors 
were. I merely mention them to show how easy it is for persons 
to believe themselves cured of tumors, or cancers, when they are 
imaginary or of the disappearing variety. 

In all diseases not purely, or largely, imaginary, suggestion 
should be used as an adjunct to other appropriate treatment; and 
should be directed chiefly to the relief of fright, worry, pain and 
sleeplessness, all of which are serious obstacles to digestion and 
nutrition, and, consequently, to resistance to germs, and to the 
repair of lesions. It may contribute much to the comfort and 
cheerfulness of the patient, to the shortening of the illness, and 
to the saving of life. I have seen even incurables stand weeks 
of acute suffering with remarkable fortitude and cheerfulness 
under the cheering suggestions of a physician in whom they had 
confidence, and seen them collapse into abject misery during his 
enforced absence, although left in hands equally skillful in other 
respects. Most physicians appreciate this fact and, consciously 
or unconsciously, apply it ; but some of the brightest and other- 
's 



SUGGESTION AS USED AND MISUSED IN CUEING DISEASE. 

wise best equipped do not, and are consequently failures. A hy- 
podermatic injection of water will often cause as profound sleep 
as one of morphia, if the patient believes it to be morphia; or 
will be equally effective in relieving pain. Simple assurances 
that sleep will come or that pain will cease are equally effective 
if believed. 

It is usually unnecessary to deceive patients. A cheerful man- 
ner, an emphasizing of every point of improvement, a statement 
that everything is going on in a satisfactory manner toward re- 
covery, that improvement is beginning and will soon be felt, 
that recovery may confidently be expected, as early assurance as 
possible that danger is past, all do much to cheer and improve, 
and are usually within the bounds of truth. Complications and 
disasters should never be suggested, and should be treated as 
lightly as possible when they occur. At times actual deception 
is not only justifiable, but is necessary to the saving of life or to 
even moderate comfort. But in such cases the family should 
always be informed of the true condition. Even in hopeless 
cases, cheerfulness and comfort may be maintained for weeks, 
months or years by constant cheering suggestions and by with- 
holding unfavorable facts. It is indeed a cheerless condition that 
holds out no hope, and one that need seldom be encountered. 

It is one thing, however, to assure a patient, suffering from 
some dangerous disease, that there is nothing the matter, and do 
nothing else to relieve him, and quite another thing to give him a 
somewhat similar assurance while doing everything possible to 
obviate the danger and bring about a cure. A clear distinction 
should be made between the medically ignorant person who 
would say to a typhoid fever patient, "There is nothing the mat- 
ter with you. There is no such thing as disease. You simply 
imagine you feel badly. You are well," or who would pray for 
his recovery, expecting a miracle to be performed, and who, hav- 
ing no knowledge of medicine, does nothing for his relief; a 
clear distinction I say should be made between such a person and 
the educated physician who would say, "You have fever; but if 
you will go to bed and take the diet and medicine prescribed, you 
will recover. You will not be very ill. You will be better to- 
morrow. Your headache will be better after a few hours' rest 

16 



SUGGESTION AS USED AND MISUSED IN CUEING DISEASE. 

and a dose or two of medicine/ 7 and who at the same time seec 
that these instructions are carried out by a good nurse, and that 
his patient has the best treatment known to science, and who in- 
telligently watches every symptom as the case progresses, giving 
cheerful suggestions for all that are disagreeable, and never for- 
getting to remedy them or avoid them if possible. 

In the first instance the patient is asked to believe more than 
is credible. He really gets little of the benefit even of sugges- 
tion. If he recovers the credit will be due to unassisted or out- 
raged nature. 

In the second case he will probably believe the suggestions. 
They will allay his anxiety and do much to relieve his pain. Hi?* 
nutrition will not be damaged by worry, fear or pain. He will 
be made comfortable by good nursing and medicines, and, no* 
only will his illness be shorter and less unpleasant, but his recov- 
ery will be much more certain, and will be due to assisted nature 






17 



SOME UNNOTED ASPECTS OF HYPNOTISM. 

ERNEST CARRODL, MOORE, L.L. B., Ph. D., University of California. 

/"^ One of the most important conclusions which Dr. Moll draws 
/ in his masterly discussion of hypnotism is that "the phenomena 
of hypnosis have many more points of contact with ordinary life 
\ than would be concluded from the discussions and articles writ- 
\ten to satisfy a mere longing for sensation." It is a well known 
fact that pathological processes are generally but heightened or 
diminished normalities. In disease the body behaves much as it 
does in health, but the degree of its behavior is different. Let the 
same processes of waste and repair which ordinarily produce the 
heat requisite for the maintenance of life, become too violent for 
any reason, and fever is the result. Too much of anything is not 
good. What we call the normal is a certain harmony of all 
functions. An abnormal condition arises when one or more of 
them is increased or diminished out of proportion to the other 
functions which co-operate with it, and this is as true of mental 
as of physical functions. A state of disease arises whenever this 
working harmony of mental factors is broken. 

On the whole, the analysis of hypnotism which the English 
surgeon, James Braid, made in 1842, seems to contain as satisfac- 
tory description of it as any which has since been offered. That 
authority treated it as a disturbance of the nervous system* "pro- 
duced by the concentration of the visual powers, the absolute 
repose of the body and the fixing of the attention." Inasmuch 
as a degree of physical concentration is necessary to the fixing of 
the mind, hypnotism when reduced to its lowest terms, seems to 
be a species of mental attention. And in spite of the fact that it 
is by no means easy to bring all the phenomena of hypnotism 
under this head, and that many other forms of answer have been 

* We are not of the opinion that hypnosis within itself disturbs the 
\ nervous system, unless it is conceded that the nervous system is disturbed 
J by natural sleep. Gazing- at a bright object for a length of time, with the 
■' eyeballs in a strained position, may disturb the nervous equilibrium, and as 
this was the method of hypnotism employed by Braid, he naturally inferred 
f that hypnosis should be treated as a disturbance of the nervous system. 
Dr. Bernheim and others who hypnotize by suggestion have never noticed 
the slightest nervous disturbance, but on the contrary they have found hyp- 
notic sleep to be a quiet, restful condition which presents no physiological 
differences from natural sleep.— Editor. 

18 



SOME UNNOTED ASPECTS OF HYPNOTISM. 

offered, the psychological explanation seems to hold the key to 
the mystery and to have decided advantages over any other which 
has been proposed. At any rate, the authorities are practically 
agreed that the degrees of hypnotism are various, ranging all the 
way from the unnoted, easy persuasions of ordinary life to the 
surprising examples of complete control of the exhibition rooms. 
And it is to these more common but frequently unrecognized 
lesser forms of hypnotism, that we would attend here. 

The one great lesson of the psychologist, which he finds most 
difficult to drive home to men, is that ideas are forces. (What is 
in the mind gets out through the muscles, and nothing but what 
is in the mind, in some form, gets expression in action.) Idea3 
once in the mind cannot be kept from expressing themselves in 
this way. At present most people are willing to believe that hyp- 
notism in its more patent forms is a force — that under certain 
conditions the subject must do what the control tells him to do. 

(^Let him but yield himself to the influence and there is no retreat ^y^ 
for him. '■< All this is admitted in the case of the mysteries of the ^ oj&uIjl e 
laboratory and the exhibition room, but it is no less true in a Jm •. 

. thousand relations of every day life. 

A little reflection will show that one is by no means fully 
awake all the time that he seems to be. A latent or unnoted 
somnambulism is perhaps more common than complete wakeful- 
ness. And few facts are of such great importance as this in the 
interpretation of social life and human history. s The strange fact; 
which everywhere confronts the student of civilization is the 
amazing credulity of men. So eager have they been to swallow all 
forms of belief, that the human imagination does not seem to have 
been able to invent anything which in some place or other has 
not passed for truth. ) And it is not a sufficient explanation to say 
that men accepted such beliefs because they knew no better. This 
negative statement must be reinforced by a positive one. Men 
believed, not because they were ignorant alone, but because they 
were and are so made that they are dominated by ideas, — by 
foolish ones, if wise ones do not hold them; by absurd ones, if 
reasonable ones do not reach them; but ideas of some sort or kind 
always seize them and possess them. 

19 



«Jt 



SOME UNNOTED ASPECTS OF HYPNOTISM. 

appear the better reason. This is not an indictment of motives, 
but merely an attempt to understand the power of a method which 
operates so successfully among us. If one dislikes a present ap- 
plication, he may ask himself whence came the power which 
spread an enthusiasm for evil deeds so generously in the past. 
Here again our discussion does not consider motives, but methods 
of communication, and it seems to me that it is impossible not to 
be struck by the fact that something almost as powerful as demon- 
iac possession frequently spreads the contagion. The power to 
make converts, which all fanatics possess, is strangely proportion- 
ate, not with the reasonableness of their doctrines, but with the 
degree of their fanaticism. The breath' of scandal is almost as 
1/ y .^effective in damnation as unquestioned conviction of crime. 
£r (Many are in the habit of railing against the truthlessness of the 
newspapers, but one and all repeat their tales.) Most of us affect 
to despise gossip, yet man is a gossiping animal from the day of 
the birth of speech in him.y It is difficult to convince a thought- 
ful man that advertising specialists have not mastered the art of 
suggestion, for their power to create wants, in order that they 
may supply them, is little short of magical. In fact, one is forced 
to conclude that much that passes to and fro in social commerce 
gets its dynamic qualities almost wholly from an interest other 
than that which normally attaches to it. There are certain rally- 
ing words in every vocabulary which possess the magic power of 
making war or peace (but more commonly the former) whenever 
they are enthusiastically employed. Crimes have not ceased to 
be committed in the name of liberty, and no single word has so 
much power to confuse issues as the various synonyms of the 
word freedom. The catchwords of any age or time, the demands 
of business, the exigencies of trade and war, the national life, etc., 
all exercise a mysterious power and secure a kind of unquestioned 
attention for which reflection does not always find a warrant. The 
various technical fallacies as the psychologist's fallacy, the histo- 
rian's fallacy, etc., which attach to each of the special sciences, 
are kindred phenomena of undue mental fixity. I cannot con- 
ceive of a social psychology being written which did not give 
much attention to this class of happenings. The detailed machin- 
ery of suggestion, which is employed in each particular attempt 



SOME UNNOTED ASPECTS OE HYPNOTISM. 

to capture the subject's thought, is still a matter for investigation. 
But undue dependence upon another, which is either volunta- 
rily assumed or due to temporary absent-mindedness, lack of 
effort to criticize or a resolve to drift with the current, are un- 
varying marks of such influence. It may be objected that the 
important factor in social psychology to which I have been allud- 
ing is suggestion and not hypnotism. But the line which divides 
these two forms of phenomena is by no means so easily drawn, 
that nature which knows no leaps is partial to differences of de- 
gree rather than of kind. 

In spite of anything which may be said in criticism of such a 
position, the fact remains that forces which are almost irresistible 
by men in ordinary conditions, drive them hither and thither 
quite contrary to their more sober desires. To fear the flabby state 
of dependence upon another will, of the professional subject, is 
quite natural, but unwittingly to submit to the blighting influ- 
ence of irrationality, simply because it comes cloaked in com- 
manding personality or feeds a prejudice which has already put 
sanity partially asleep, is hardly less destructive. The genuinely 
democratic age is not yet, nor will it be, until each man begins to 
usher it in carefully, proving all things and holding fast only to 
that which is true. 



23 



ANIMAL HYPNOTISM. 

By ROBERT M. YERKES, A. M., of Harvard University. 

Whether there is in animals a state which may properly be 
called hypnosis is a disputed question. Opinions on the subject 
range between two extremes; on one hand Czermak, 1 a careful 
investigator of the phenomenon, holds that many animals may 
be brought into a condition essentially like the hypnotic state of 
man; or the other Verworn, the author of the most important 
recent work on the subject, believes that there is only a super- 
ficial similarity in the states. He therefore calls his book 2 "The 
so-called Hypnosis of Animals." 

But so far as our present consideration of the peculiar and 
interesting abnormal state in which many animals may easily be 
placed is concerned it matters little whether it be identical with 
human hypnosis or entirely unlike it, for it is to an examination 
of the nature and symptoms of the condition, rather than its re- 
lationships, that we shall turn after a brief review of the history 
of the subject. 

It is commonly known that fowls, frogs and various other 
animals may be made inactive for long intervals by holding them 
firmly in one position for a short time. After an animal which 
bas been thus held is released, it frequently remains almost mo- 
tionless for a period varying from a few seconds to several hours; 
it then, in most cases, jumps up suddenly, as if startled in sleep. 
It is this state of immobility in animals to which the name hyp- 
nosis has been applied by some authors. 

Over two hundred and fifty years ago Daniel Schmenter, a 
professor at the University of Altdorff, stated in one of his works 
a hen could be kept quiet for long periods by holding it on a 
table, across which a string or chalk line was drawn in line 
with the animal's eyes. Ten years later, in 1646, a Jesuit priest, 
Athanasius Kircher. gave the first scientific account of this pecu- 
liar experiment, and offered an interesting explanation of the 

1. At the end of this ai ticle a list of the most important works on Ani- 
mal Hypnotism may be f« und 

2 "Die sogenannte Hy 3 der Thiere. •• 

24 



ANIMAL HYPNOTISM. 

phenomenon. Schwenter had thought the inactivity to be due to 
fear, a kind of paralysis, hut Kircher believed the hen saw the 
line and imagined it was tied. 

From Kircher 's time until 1872 nothing seems to have been 
done toward the scientific investigation of Animal Hypnotism. 
Then Czermak, a prominent German psycho-physiologist, re- 
peated Kircher's experiments with crayfish, hens, and several 
other birds. Since 1872 William Preyer, the eminent physiolo- 
gist and psychologist, and Emil Heubel, formerly a docent at the 
University of Kiew, have carefully studied the hypnotic state of 
frogs. Another investigator, Danilewsky, has given attention 
to tho phenomenon in various reptiles, and Professor Max Ver- 
worn, of the University of Jena, one of the foremost of German 
physiologists, has recently observed guinea pigs, frogs, and 
snakes. 

Thus far we learn from various sources that the peculiar 
quiescent condition may be produced in the monkey, horse, wolf, 
guinea pig, rabbit, squirrel, mouse, dog, cat, duck, goose, swan, 
turkey, goldfinch, siskin, canary, robin, parrot, pigeon, dove, alli- 
gator, crocodile, lizard, snake, frog, toad, triton, crayfish, cuttle- 
fish, and crab. There are probably hundreds of other animals 
whose susceptibility has not been discovered. 

For a more detailed study of the symptoms of the so-called 
hypnotic state of animals two or three animals may be taken as 
types. The crayfish, hen and frog, since they are all favorable 
subjects for these experiments, have been most studied and will 
serve our purpose well. 

Hypnosis in the crayfish, which has been taken as a repre- 
sentative of invertebrate animals, has been known for a long 
time. Formerly the process was called "magnetization", and 
"passes" were used to induce the state. Stroking an animal from 
tail to head brought on the quiescent period, while "passes" in 
the opposite direction served, it was supposed, to remove the spell. 
The strange effect was said to be due to the passage of a magnetic 
fluid from the body of the hypnotizer to the animal influenced. 
Recent investigation has proved that "passes" are quite unneces- 
sary for the induction of hypnosis, so that to-day "Animal Mag- 
netism" is one of the curious myths of science. 

2 5 



ANIMAL HYPNOTISM. 

To bring a crayfish into hypnosis it is only necessary to place 
it in a stable position and hold it there firmly so as to prevent, as 
far as possible, movements of the body and limbs, until the ani- 
mal ceases its efforts to escape. This may take anywhere from ten 
seconds to as many minntes; in certain cases even this period is 
insufficient. In an article on the crayfish in the American Jour- 
nal of Physiology for April, 1900, Dr. Dearborn states that the 
length of time required for the hypnotization of an individual 
varies from day to day. At one time half a minute of restraint 
may be followed by a quiescent interval of ten minutes, at 
another several minutes may have no perceptible effect. After 
the hand or other restraining object is taken away, the animal 
may remain in position a few seconds or several hours. This 
period is as variable as the time necessary for the induction of the 
state. 

Of the many positions in which crayfish have been made to 
remain by this simple method, perhaps the oddest are "standing 
on the head" and ''hanging by the tail or abdomen." It is easy to 
stand the animal upright with its weight resting on its head, ap- 
pendages and large claws. If one be held in this extremely un- 
natural position for a few moments, it will remain so after the 
operator's hands have been removed. 




Frequently an animal will hold this posture for five or ten 
minutes. Similarly when suspended by the tail, the crayfish, 
after a few struggles, becomes quiet and remains thus for a long 
time. These are only a few instances of the strange positions in 
which crayfish have been kept; there are many others just as in- 
teresting so far as the nature of the hypnotic condition itself is 
concerned. 

It is a matter of popular knowledge that a sitting hen may 
readily be changed from nest to nest, if her head be tucked under 

26 



ANIMAL HYPNOTISM. 

one wing and her body rocked to and fro slightly. An animal 
thus treated will continue sitting on any nest in which she has 
been placed. Children often amuse themselves by turning a 
chicken's head back under its wing and then laying it on the 
ground. Sometimes in such cases the animal lies as if dead for 
several minutes. 

The earlier experimenters made use of strings, chalk lines 
arid other objects in the hypnotizing of hens. Kircher's method 
was #s follows: he tied a hen's legs together, to prevent escape, 
laid it on a table and after struggling had ceased, drew a chalk 
line across the table parallel to a line passing through the ani- 
mal's eyes. The legs were then freed, but usually the subject 
would lie still for five or even thirty minutes. 




e%mjfe#NgS* 



-'•S^S--^ 



|^Sg«^^f^^e^E^¥^J'^>-r- :- "... ,7.:...-. ; ,, 




Further experimentation showed that the string or chalk line 
to which Hircher had ascribed great power was entirely unneces- 
sary. Merely holding a hen in one position for a time ordinarily 
sufficed to bring on the hypnotic condition. Because of this some 
authors concluded that the lines were without effect. But 
pigeons, it was discovered, could not be made quiescent by hold- 
ing alone; however long one restrained their movements they 
would fly away as soon as released. They could easily be hypno- 
tized, however, by holding a finger or any small motionless ob- 

27 



ANIMAL HYPNOTISM. 

ject in front of their eyes and in line with the bill. In this case 
the bird's eyes became fixed upon the object and there apparently 
resulted something similar to what we call concentration of the 
attention. 

Methods, in principle the same as this, are extensively used 
in the production of human hypnotism. By Braid's method, for 
example, the subject is influenced through gazing intently at 
some object; so in Luy's method the attention is fixed on a rap- 
idly rotating mirror, and likewise in the Nancy method the sub- 
ject looks at some object while the operator suggests drowsiness 
or sleep. 

Czermak says in this connection, "With hens I often brought 
a piece of twine or a small piece of wood directly over their crests, 
so that the end fell before their eyes. The hens remained mo- 
tionless, closed their eyes and slept, sinking to the table." From 
this it seems pretty certain that the lines do influence the hen, 
although the state may be induced without them. 




The condition of a hypnotized hen, as now known, may be 
described thus: the body is motionless in any given, stable posi- 
tion, the eyelids move occasionally, the eyes may be closed, 
though usually open. I have noticed that Florida chameleons 
and frogs during the early stages of hypnosis open and close their 
eyes irregularly and slowly. The hen's legs and wings may move 
slightly; usually they are held in one place, but without rigidity, 
and any position given them is maintained. Trembling of the 
extremities has been noticed. The heart beat and respiration 
are at first increasingly rapid, later they become slow. It is said 
that the temperature does not change. From five to ten minutes 
is the common duration of the state in hens, although it has been 
known to last half an hour. The spell seems to be broken sud- 
denly, the animal coming back to normal activity with a start or 
jump. 

28 



ANIMAL HYPNOTISM. 

For frogs, as for the other animals considered, no elaborate 
method is required to bring on the hypnotic state. Under ordi- 
nary conditions a frog rendered motionless by restraint of move- 
ment will remain so for several minutes, and if precautions be 
taken to prevent stimulation by light, sound, contact or other 
strong irritants it may be kept so for hours. 

A frog in process of hypnotization at first struggles violently 
to escape, but finally quiets down and becomes motionless except 
for trembling of its legs, eyelid movements and occasionally body 
motions. The breathing is at first rapid and irregular, it may 
sometimes be inhibited; in later stages it becomes slow. Preyer 
says it may sink from 96 or 100 to 28 or 36 times a minute. The 
heart beat is also more rapid at first. 




Preyer mentions the following interesting differences be- 
tween sleep and the state which he terms "Kataplexie" for the 
benefit of those who think them identical. 

1. Sleep is not easily induced in new or unnatural positions 
as is Kataplexie. 

2. Excitement and violent movements tend to prevent 
sleep, but are not unfavorable to Kataplexie. 

3. A sleeping animal takes the relaxed position indicative 
of fatigue ; a kataplectic subject is commonly in a state of muscu- 
lar tension. 

4. After being forcibly held or restrained from motion 
animals do not sleep well, but they readily become kataplectic. 

5. In sleep the toes are not widely spread nor the extremi- 
ties raised as in Kataplexie. 

6. The eyes usually closed during sleep are often open in 
the kataplectic state. 

7. The respiration in sleep is deepened and prolonged, al- 
ways regular; in Kataplexie it is markedly irregular. 

29 



ANIMAL HYPNOTISM. 

8. During sleep the heart beat is regular and somewhat 
slow; in the artificially produced quiescent condition it is now 
rapid, now slow, often very irregular. 

9. Kataplectic appearances are not normally present in 
sleep. 

10. Chewing movements are seldom seen during sleep, al- 
though common in Kataplexie. 

11. Sleeping animals do not tremble as kataplectic sub- 
jects do. 

12. Defecation is rare during sleep and common in Kata- 
plexie. 

13. In the presence of strong stimuli, such as noises, heat, 
cold, etc., sleep is almost impossible, whereas Kataplexie is easily 
induced. 

14. For the induction of sleep the removal of strong stimuli 
acts favorably, but a very strong stimulus, on the contrary, is 
necessary to produce Kataplexie. 

15. Sleep tends to last longer than a few seconds; Kataplexie 
on the other hand never lasts very long. 1 

We have now to ask the cause of this peculiar phenomenon 
called by different authors Sleep, Kataplexie, or Hypnotism. 
Tha+ it is not precisely the same as human hypnosis is certain; 
that it is not as much like the human state as the animal's struc- 
ture and mental development justifies us in expecting is far from 
clear. Verworn says, "With human hypnosis, which is purely a 
phenomenon of suggestion, this state (Animal Hypnosis) stands 
only in an external relation, in so far as inhibition of action is 
characteristic of both. But,not every inhibition phenomenon is 
to be characterized as hypnosis. The essential tiling in the con- 
dition is the tonic reflex which gives the animal hypnotic state 
its strikingly odd appearance." 2 Granting Verworn's assump- 
tion, that human hypnosis is essentially a suggestion phenome- 
non, it is by no means certain that the so-called animal hypnosis, 
although caused by methods which seem different from the sug- 
gestion methods, is entirely unlike hypnotism in man. It would 
in all probability be just as true to say that man's mind is en- 

1. The above is a free and somewhat abbreviated translation from Wm. 
Preyer's "Die Kataplexie und der thierische Hypnotismus," p. 77-78. 

2. Verworn, "Die segenannte Hypnose der Thiere," p. 92. 

30 



ANIMAL HYPNOTISM. 

iirely different from a dog's. Just because of the vast difference 
in mental development between man and the brute, these similar 
states must be produced by different method,. 

Fear has been taken by some as the sufficient cause of animal 
hypnosis; and, inasmuch as it is known to cause, at times, loss of 
movement or paralysis in men and animals, this is not strange. 
Wild animals we are told are most susceptible, therefore fright is 
important; but on the other hand this is denied, and ability to 
concentrate the attention is said to be the chief determining fac- 
tor in susceptibility to hypnotization. Whatever part fear may 
play, it is now clear that it is not an important cause, for even 
the tamest animals may easily be influenced. 

Evidently in this phenomenon the restraining of natural 
movements so effects the central nervous system as to cause the 
temporary inhibition of both voluntary and reflex movements. 
Normal excitability and mobility are lost; why or how we are 
at present unable to say. In both human and animal hypnosis 
the important thing undoubtedly is inhibition, and if it could 
be shown that the states differed only in manner of production, 
their close relationship would be indisputable. 

The figures are from Wm. Preyer's, Die Kataplexie und der thierische Hypnotismus. Preyer 
in turn credits them to Czermak. 

Czermak, J. N., Nachweis echter hypnotischer Erscheinungen bei Thiere. In Sitzungber. d. 
Akad d. Wiss in Wein, Bd. LXVI Abt. 3, 1872. 

An English translation of this article by Clara Hammond in Popular Science Monthly, Vol. Ill, 
1873. 

Danilewsky, B., Ueber die Hemmungen der Reflex — und Willkiirbewegungen. Beitrage zur 
Lehre vom thierischen Hypnotismus. In Pfliiger's Archive, Bd. XXIV, 1881. 

Heubel, Emil, Ueber die Abhangigkeit des wachen Gehirnzustandes von ausseren Erregungen. 
Ein Beitrag zur Physiology des Schlafes und zur Wiirdigung des Kircher'schen Experimentum 
mirabile. In Pfliiger's Archive. Bd. XIV, 1877. 

Preyer, Wm., Die Kataplexie und der thierische Hypnotismus. Jena, 1878, pp. 100. 

Verworn, Max, Die sogenannte Hypnose der Thiere, Jena, 1898, pp. 92. 



31 



HOW TO CONTROL PEOPLE IN THE WAKING STATE. 

PREPARED ESPECIALLY FOR STUDENTS. 

By E. VIRGIL NEAL, A. M., LL. D. 



POUR SIMPLE TESTS. 



IMPORTANT. 



Study each test in the order given. You should thoroughly 
master the first test before attempting the second, and you should 
thoroughly master the second test before attempting the third, 
etc. 




RESTING HAND ON FINGERS. 



FIRST TEST— RELAXING THE MUSCLES. 

Nature of First Test. 

This is a test in the relaxation of the muscles, or in other 

words, a devitalizing exercise. You may use the test on anyone 

with whom you happen to come in contact; it is better to try 

a number of persons at once. It is difficult for many persons 

32 



HOW TO CONTROL PEOPLE IN THE WAKING STATE. 

to relax their muscles completely; it is hard for them to put 
themselves in a passive condition. When a doctor examines 
your throat he frequently has to take an instrument to push your 
tongue down. This is because you do not relax the muscles of 
your tongue. Most people do not obtain the rest that they should 
when they sit down, for the simple reason that they are unable 
to relax their muscles. They keep them on a tension and are 
consequently tired all the time. A person who can sit down and 
completely relax his muscles, can obtain more absolute rest in 
ten minutes than a person who cannot relax his muscles will be 
able to obtain in from thirty minutes to one hour. Anyone can 
learn to put himself in a passive state — to relax his muscles. A 
large percentage of people can do so without learning. Some 
require but a few minutes to learn, while some require days or 
even weeks. You should use test No. 1 on yourself, as it is very 
important that you learn how to put yourself in a passive state 
to secure rest. This is not necessary for the purpose of learning 
personal magnetism and hypnotism. You can learn these sci- 
ences without this ability, but you need it for the good it will do 
you. It will keep you from being nervous; it will lengthen 
your life. Hundreds of people complain of being overworked; 
they are extremely nervous and suffer continually from nervous 
dyspepsia, all for the simple reason that they are unable to put 
themselves in a passive state ; they keep their muscles and nerves 
continuously on a tension, and this will eventually undermine 
and wear out the strongest constitution. 

HOW TO PERFORM FIRST TEST. 

Request the subject to place the left hand upon the right 
finger, according to the illustration preceding. Tell him 
to let the full weight of the hand rest upon the finger, using 
the finger as a means of support merely. After you. have given 
these instructions, ask him if he thinks that he is doing as you 
have requested — that is — if the full weight of the hand is rest- 
ing upon the finger. If he says yes, then say, "When I count 
three I wish you to remove your finger very quickly. Ready — 
one — two — three." As you say "three" he should remove his 
finger. If he has relaxed his muscles the left hand will fall into 

33 



HOW TO CONTROL PEOPLE IN THE WAKING STATE. 

the lap as the finger is removed, according to illustration follow- 
ing. 









i 




Ark^L 








WkS^ " i 


WjttL 

wMBkk 






Sr ^~ ' 








^^S^s^ 








^^^^^Hii 


yi 




1 




iSl ^^illiPk. 


1 


^ 


. 







HANDS RESTING IN LAP. 
PERFECT RELAXATION". 

It is evident that if you place a book upon your fingers and 
remove your fingers quickly, the book will fall to the floor, so if 
the persons do as you direct, that is, if they let the full weight 
of their hands rest upon their fingers, it is evident that when 
their fingers are removed, the hands will fall. If the hands 
should not fall the persons have not complied with your instruc- 
tions, that is, they have not devitalized themselves ; they have not 
relaxed their muscles. You will probably find that a number of 
the hands will remain up, according to illustration shown on op- 
posite page. 

If the hand does not fall when you count three, but remains 
up, as shown in the illustration, you should explain to the sub- 



34- 



HOW TO CONTROL PEOPLE IN THE WAKING STATE. 

ject that lie has not put himself in a passive state, and get him to 
try again. Upon a second trial he may be able to comply with 
your directions. The left hand must not be pushed or forced 
downward into the lap, but all the muscles in the left arm and 




HAND REMAINING IN THE AIR. 



hand should be completely relaxed and the hand and arm should 
fall as a dead, inert body — the same as a book would fall. Many 
persons believe that they can completely relax their muscles 
when they cannot do so. If one has not this ability it is well that 
he should find it out at once, so that he can practice until he 
attains it, because it means very much to his health and happi- 
ness. Fifty per cent, of the people who are cross and nervous 
are in this condition simply because they cannot place them- 
selves in a passive state. They never secure absolute rest; the 

35 



HOW TO CONTEOL PEOPLE IN THE WAKING STATE. 

nervous system is overworked and misery and unhappiness fol- 
low as natural and inevitable results. 

SECOND TEST -DRAWING BACKWARD. 
PREPARATION. 

Do not, under any circumstances, undertake this test until 
you have succeeded with the first test. Unless you master the 
tests in the order given we cannot be responsible for your suc- 
cess. 

THE SUBJECT. 

For the second test select some person whose hand fell quick- 
ly when you counted three, as explained in the first test, some 
one who is able, completely, to relax his muscles. A person whose 
hand remained in the air when you made the first test is not a fit 
subject for the second. 

POSITION. 

After having selected the subject for the second test, ask him 
to stand up, with his feet together, his head up, hands at his 
sides, and to close his eyes and relax his muscles. To ascertain if 
he is so doing put your hand on his shoulder and pull him back 
slightly. If he comes back easily he is doing as you direct; if he 
is standing with his limbs stiff and it is difficult to pull him 
back, he is not obeying instructions. 

A WORD TO THE SUBJECT. 

Explain to the subject that he should not resist the influence., 
but that when he feels an inclination to fall backward he should 
let himself go and that you will catch him so that he will not ac- 
tually fall. 

PROCESS. 

If the subject is standing with his eyes closed and muscles 
relaxed, put the palm of your right hand against the back of his 
head at the base of the brain and ask him to rest his head upon 
your hand, as in the illustration. 

Now put your left hand on the subject's forehead and push 
his head against your right hand slowly, as in the illustration 
following. Ask the subject to think of falling backward, or better, 
to repeat to himself the words, "I am falling backward, I am 

36 



HOW TO CONTBOL PEOPLE IN THE WAKING STATE. 

falling backward/' etc. Hold your hands still for thirty seconds 
and then say in slow but positive tones, — a When — I — draw — 
my — hand — from — you — you — will — slowly — fall — back- 
ward." Eow remove your left hand from the subject by draw- 
ing it backward across the side of his head above the ear, after 
which slowly withdraw your right hand. 




HAND ON FOREHEAD, FALLING BACKWARD. 

Hemove the right hand so slowly at first that its motion is 
hardly perceptible. While you are withdrawing your right 
hand say to the subject, — "You are falling backward — you are 
falling backward." Be sure to catch the subject when, he falls, 
so that he will not hurt himself. If he does not fall backward 
at first, repeat the test. In making this test most persons remove 
the right hand much too rapidly. The more slowly you remove 
the hand the more likely you are to affect the person. Your 

37 



HOW TO CONTROL PEOPLE IN THE WAKING STATE. 

manner of speaking will also have much to do with your suc- 
cess. Do not speak loud, but speak positively. 




ILLUSTRATION OF THE MANNER IN WHICH THE HANDS ARE 
WITHDRAWN, SHOWING SUBJECT FALLING BACKWARD. 

IMPORTANT. 

r After you have used the test of falling backward on those 
whose hands fell in their laps, use this same test on those whose 
hands did not fall, as you may affect a large number of those who 
do not even try to comply with your directions. 



38 



HOW TO CONTROL PEOPLE IN THE WAKING STATE. 




DRAWING SUBJECT FORWARD WITH HANDS- 



THIRD TEST— DRAWING FORWARD. 
PROCESS. 

For this test select some one whom you have affected on the 
second test, — some one who fell backward very readily. Ask 
him to stand up in front of yon and relax his muscles as indicated 
for the second test. Place your fingers on his temples, as shown 
in the illustration above. Hold your fingers on the temples for 
from ten to fifteen seconds. Ask the person to look directly into 
your eyes and you should look directly at the root of his nose 
between his eyes, with a firm and steady gaze. After holding 
your fingers on the subject's temples and looking at the root of 
the nose, as directed, for about ten seconds, say to the subject in 
slow but positive tones: "Xow-when-I-withdraw-my-hands-you- 
will-f all-forward." Withdraw your hands very slowly from the 

39 



HOW TO CONTROL PEOPLE IN THE WAKING STATE. 

subject and as yon withdraw them say to him: " Yon-are-falling- 
forward; yon-are-falling-forward j yon-are-falling-forward." The 
illustration below represents the manner of withdrawing the 
hands. 

When the subject falls forward be sure to catch him so that 
he will not hurt himself. Do not give up if you fail on the first 
trial. Nothing is accomplished without perseverance. Explain 
to the subject that he must not resist the influence. 




WITHDRAWING HANDS. 



FOURTH TEST— FASTENING HANDS TOGETHER. 
PROCESS. 

Do not attempt this test until you have been successful with 
the three preceding. For this test select some one with whom 
you were successful on the third test — some one who fell forward 



HOW TO CONTROL PEOPLE IN THE WAKING STATE. 

quite readily. Ask him to stand up and put his hands together 
with the fingers crossed. Ask him to push his hands very tightly 
together, to make his arms stiff and rigid, and to think he cannot 
take his hands apart, or better, to repeat mentally the words, "I 
can't get my hands apart, I can't get them apart, I can't get them 
apart," &c. The subject must not laugh nor treat the matter 
frivolously, but he must make up his mind that his hands are 




FOURTH TEST— FASTENING THE HANDS. 

actually fastened together. The operator should now place his 
hands on those of the subject and ask the latter to look him 
straight in the eyes. Let the subject be impressed that he must 
not look away, and if he attempts to do so the operator should 
command him to look into his eyes, the operator meanwhile 
should look at the subject between the eyes, at the root of the 

41 



HOW TO CONTROL PEOPLE IN THE WAKING STATE. 

nose, with a firm and steady gaze, never removing his gaze at any 
time for the slightest moment. 

Now say to the subject in a positive tone: a You will find your 
hands are sticking together, tight, tighter, tighter, tight, and you 
can't take them apart.' 7 The operator should now remove his 
hands from those of the subject, so that the subject may have an 
opportunity to attempt to pull his hands apart. While the 
operator's hands are on those of the subject, he should move 
them around continually and gently press the subject's hands 
together, but at no time pressing hard enough to hurt the sub- 
ject's hands in the slightest degree, as this would destroy all the 
effect. 

If the operator prefers, instead of pressing the subject's 
hands,, he may make passes down the subject's arms, commenc- 
ing at the shoulders, passing down the arms and off at the hands, 
and repeating the operation until ready to give the suggestions 
that the subject cannot take his hands apart. 

After the operator's hands are taken from those of the sub- 
ject, he should keep telling him that he cannot take his hands 
apart, as the suggestion gains and holds its strength by repeti- 
tion. 

In giving the suggestions the operator should say in a posi- 
tive tone, not very fast, "Now you will find your hands are stick- 
ing together tightly," and keep getting more positive and throw- 
ing more energy in subsequent suggestions until the climax is 
reached, when the subject is told that he cannot take his hands 
apart. 

THE FIRST TEST MAY BE OMITTED. 

After you have been successful with the fourth test, and 
have fastened the hands of a number of subjects together so that 
they are unable to take them apart, you may omit the 
first test and thereafter commence with the second test, but never 
omit any test except the first, and if you wish to affect a large 
percentage of people it is usually better to commence with the 
first test. After you become experienced you can perform the 
tests very quickly. You will get so that you can fasten a per- 

42 



HOW TO CONTROL PEOPLE IN THE WAKING STATE. 

son's hands together almost instantaneously. Do not attempt 
anything beyond this point until you have thoroughly mastered 
all the preceding lessons. 

HOW TO REMOVE HYPNOTIC INFLUENCE. 
PROCESS. 

As soon as the subject tries hard to pull his hands apart and 
is unable to do so, the operator should strike his own hands to- 
gether quickly so as to make a sharp noise and say very posi- 




POSITION IN AWAKENING SUBJECT. 

tively, "All right, wake up, wide awake, all right," and continue 
repeating these suggestions, occasionally striking his hands to- 
gether until the influence is entirely removed, which result will 
ordinarily be accomplished very quickly. 

43 



HOW TO CONTROL PEOPLE IN THE WAKING STATE. 

Should the subject's hands not come apart quickly, the op- 
erator should take hold of them, push them together closely, and 
say to the subject, "Now stop trying, stop pulling," and when 
the subject has done so, say "Now when I count three your hands 
will come apart." Then the operator should count "One, two, 
three," and just as he says "three" he should strike his hands 
together quickly so as to make a loud noise, and say, "Now take 
your hands apart, all right, wake up," &c. 




SUBJECT UNABLE TO BEND HIS LEG. 
MISCELLANEOUS EXPERIMENTS. 
OLD CUSTOM. 

By the old methods you are taught to put a person to sleep 
before making his arms stiff or controlling him in any manner. 
This is entirely unnecessary; besides, it robs the student of val- 
uable practice. 



HOW TO CONTROL PEOPLE IN THE WAKING STATE. 
A NEW WAY. 

If you wish to develop a strong personality and acquire the 
power of personal magnetism there are no better exercises than 
the tests for controlling people in their waking state. "With a 
small amount of practice you will get so you can control a large 
number of persons almost instantly. For the following test select 
some person whom you have drawn backward and forward and 
whose hands you have fastened together. 

HOW TO STIFFEN" THE LEG. 

[Ask the subject to place his weight on the leg you wish to 
make stiff, while you take hold of one of his hands. Tell him to 
look you straight in the eyes and think he cannot bend his leg, 
and when you rise, to let his eyes follow yours. The operator dur- 
ing this time is in a kneeling posture, as shown in picture. Now 
make a few passes down the subject's leg with one hand, com- 
mencing about six or eight inches above the knee and continuing 
downward until about six inches below the knee. While mak- 
ing the passes say in a very positive tone, "Now you will find 
your leg is getting stiff -stiff -stiffer-stiffer-stiff -and you can't bend 
it. You will walk stiff-legged." As you speak the last words rise, 
keeping your gaze centered at the root of the subject's nose be- 
tween the eyes, and pull him toward you actually causing him 
to walk stiff-legged. When he has walked fifteen or twenty feet 
remove the influence by striking your hands together and say- 
ing, "All right, wake up," etc., according to the method ex- 
plained for removing the influence when the hands are fastened 
together. 

HOW TO STIFFEN THE ARIL 

This process is similar to that used for the leg. Have the 
subject close his hand, and make his arm very stiff. Now take 
hold of his fist and make a few passes down inside of the arm, 
saying, "Your arm is getting stiff-stiff-stiffer-stiffer-stiff and you 
can't bend it. Try hard, the more you try the stiffer it will get." 
Eemove the influence according to preceding instructions. 



45 



HOW TO CONTROL PEOPLE IN THE WAKING STATE. 

PREVENT SPEAKING THE NAME. 

Stand in front of the subject and gently press down upon 

the "Adam's apple" of his throat a few times, saying, "Now 

when I count three you can't say your name. One-two-three. 

jSTow you can't say your name. You can't say it, try hard." 




SHOWING PERSON TRYING TO THROW STICK DOWN. 
HOW TO KEEP A PERSON EROM THROWING A STICK DOWN 
Have the subject take hold of a broom handle or a cane and 
ask him to look into your eyes and grasp the stick tightly; tell 
him to think that he cannot let go of the stick and that he will 
find when you count three that his hands are stuck tightly to it 
and he cannot throw it down, and the more he tries the tighter 
it will stick. "Ready-one-two-three, — now-you-cannot-throw- 
the-stick-dowm — try-hard, — the-more-you-try-the-more-you-can- 
not." 

4 6 



HOW TO CONTROL PEOPLE IN THE WAKING STATE. 
HOW TO KEEP A PERSON PROM SITTING DOWN. 

Have the subject stand up; place a chair directly behind 
him. Tell him to look directly into your eyes. You should look 
directly at the root of his nose between his eyes. Tell him to 
make his legs perfectly stiff and to think that he cannot sit down, 
and that when you count three, he will find that his legs are 




SHOWING PERSON WHO CANNOT GET UP. 

stiff and rigid, and that he cannot sit down, that the more he 
tries the stiffer his legs will get. "Ready-one-two-three, — now- 
you-cannot-sit-down." After the subject tries for a few seconds 
remove the influence by slapping your hands together quickly 
and saying, "All-right — wake-up," etc. 



47 



HOW TO CONTROL PEOPLE IN THE WAKING STATE. 
HOW TO KEEP A PERSON FROM GETTING UP. 

Have the subject look directly in jour eyes while you look 
at the root of his nose. Tell him to think that he cannot get up, 
and that when you count three he will find that he is fastened 
tightly to the chair and that he cannot get up ; that the more he 
tries the tighter he will stick. "Ready-one-two-three, — now-you- 
cannot-get-up, — you-cannot-get-up." 

In all these tests the subject must look directly into the eyes 
of the operator, while the operator should look between the eyes 
of the subject, keeping at all times a firm and steady gaze, never 
removing it i for one instant until ready to remove the influence 
from the subject. All other tests of this nature are easily per- 
formed if the preceding are thoroughly mastered. The operator 
should never get discouraged. Be courteous and never show any 
disappointment at failure; merely remark, "We cannot expect 
to hypnotize everybody upon first trial," or something of this 
kind, and proceed with your work. There is a knack in hypno- 
tizing which conies only from practice and experience. Patience 
and perseverance will bring this. Keep trying and you are sure 
to hypnotize a number of those you try. 

Full and complete instructions in the art of hypnotizing will be found in 
other chapters of this work.— Editor. 



48 



HYPNOTISM. 

By CARL SEXTUS. 

IMPRESSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS. 

"All truth is precious, if not all divine, 

And what dilates the pow'rs must needs refine." 

— Cowper. 
"Know Thyself." 
"The greatest study of mankind is man." 

— Shakespeare. 

Hypnotism is the name for mesmerism and animal mag- 
netism. Hypnotism (from the Greek word hypnos) is the sci- 
ence of that sleep-like state which manifests itself by nervous 
phenomena. It may be produced by the influence of another or 
it may be self -induced. (^The young are more easily hypnotized 
than the old. J Those who are concessive and passive, and who 
can and are willing to concentrate their attention on the intended 
sleep, are most susceptible. Those who cannot be hypnotized in 
the first seance, may yield after renewed efforts. Of the three 
hypnotic states, — the cataleptic, lethargic, and the somnambulis- 
tic, — the last is the most interesting. The somnambulist is a 
subject, a personality acting by his own impulses or obeying the 
will of the operator, yet with a peculiar consciousness that does 
not return to memory with returning wakefulness. The effects 
that can be produced by hypnotism are wonderful. Diseases are 
cured by "suggestion." Intelligence in human or in animal form 
can be fed and grown from a spark to a gigantic flame. The 
higher the intelligence the finer the culture that is needed. All 
intelligence has life and gathers growth in its advancement. There 
are certain limits beyond which even the modern physiologist 
finds it impossible to pass. The world — scientific men included 
— had to grow before these interesting psychical facts could get 
orthodox-scientific recognition. They were none the less neces- 
sary in the growth from a materialistic to a psychical or spiritual 
view of man. ]STo person can be justly held responsible for what 



HYPNOTISM. 

he does not know. The measure of each person's ability is the 
just measure of his responsibility. The student of hypnotism 
and mental phenomena has taken to the miscoscope the cells, too, 
— not the cells of the asylum — but the same sort the anatomist is 
studying. Psychology and physiology are hand in glove. They 
show the elements of mental life to be associated with the lowest 
forms of physical life. Whatever life is, they say it is a force 
which always has existed and always will exist. Wherever it is 
associated with matter, so that matter lives, there will be motion 
and some activity of the kind that thought consists of. Mind is 
thought or intelligence, the essence of thought. The 
physical brain is no more capable of originating' or elimi- 
nating thought than is the hand or any of the organs of the 
system. What man can ever solve the great mystery of that 
fragile link which unites mind and body? Hypnotism, because 
it is a new field, demands in its investigation the greatest impar- 
tiality, the greatest freedom from prejudice; yet, hardly have 
we begun the study of this new phenomenon, before we are con- 
fronted by that old, hereditary fault of science — a priorism — 
which either simply denies all that runs contrary to prevailing 
opinion or which distorts facts until they fit into its system. Such 
doubters, who instead of enlarging their system to accommodate 
the facts, make the facts fit into the system, are exactly like the 
robber Procrustes, of whom Diodorus relates that he used to lay 
his victims upon the torture bed; if they were found too short, he 
stretched their limbs until they fit; if, on the contrary, they hap- 
pened to be too long, he simply cut off the protruding members. 
Procrustes is the prototype of our priori st. Hypnotism 
found therapeutic application in France long ago, after men, 
whose honesty, liability and competence cannot be doubted, had 
published the often surprising curative success obtained by it. 
Many are unable, for sentimental reasons, to give up the old be- 
liefs, even though they have accepted the new teaching of astron- 
omy and biology; others draw a curtain over the dogmas and de- 
clare that action is more important than belief. The progress 
during the last twenty years in the healing of disease by hypno- 
tism, and by other psychical means, has been so decidedly marked 
that not hundreds, but thousands, of persons are now living who 

50 



HYPNOTISM. 

have been relieved from sad afflictions by such methods. Nor are 
the cases few, in which relief has been given after all ordinary 
medical modes of treatment had failed for years. Doctor "Wetter- 
strand, of Stockholm, has used this method of treatment in seven 
thousand cases; Doctor Bernheim, of Nancy, in twelve thousand 
cases. Both are strong endorsers of it. The latter unhesitatingly 
declares that the study of hypnotic suggestion should be made 
obligatory in all medical schools; that a physician who in these 
days ignores the psychical element in disease, and is ignorant of 
the part it plays in pathogeny and therapeutics, is no better than a 
horse doctor and should confine himself to veterinary practice. 

Animal magnetism pervades all animal life, just as electricity 
pervades all inanimate nature. It is only within the last half cen- 
tury that man has been able to bend these forces to intelligent 
uses. "We know that the message that comes to us over the wire 
has an individualized, conscious entity at the other end. Just so 
with the intelligence that comes to us through the channel of 
animal magnetism and hypnotism — there must be an intelligent 
entity behind it. The earliest examples of healing by animal 
magnetism and hypnotism within the historical period, of which 
detailed and abundant evidence exists, are those of the curing of 
king's evil, or scrofula, as well as other diseases, by the laying on 
of hands. This method began long before hypnotism, as such, 
was known, and was usually accompanied by religious services. 
Pliny, Tacitus and Suetonius speak of the touching of the sick 
having been resorted to for healing purposes. Curing by the 
royal touch is mentioned in Scandinavian Eddas and Sagas, and 
there is other evidence that the practice was known in Europe as 
early as the XL and XII. centuries. The efficacy of the method 
was known in the early days of the Christian church, — for in- 
stance, St. Augustine healed a sick person by the laying on of 
hands. King Edward the Confessor, one of the saints of the 
Catholic church, who ascended the throne in 1041, was the first to 
cure scrofulous diseases by the royal touch. The practice was 
introduced into Erance some two hundred years later. It is now 
being recognized that "thoughts are things 7 ' ; that they are living 
entities and that they can be sent forth. Must we — ostrich-like 
— hide our eyes from the real dangers before us and thus run into 

5i 



HYPNOTISM. 

a double danger ? Shall we — like Martin Horkey in the times of 
Galileo — refuse to admit that there are any other planets besides 
our own, from an absurd idea that they will cause some confusion 
or collision against our earth ? 

"If the new planets were acknowledged/' said Horkey, "what 
a chaos would ensue." * * * "I will never concede his four 
new planets to that Italian, though I die for it." 

The end of an important century is at hand. The earth has 
passed through many conflicts and disciplines during the last one 
hundred years; though, on the whole, the greatest of all conquests 
for humanity have been more in a moral or ethical sense than on 
the physical plane. The nineteenth century has made history 
that can never die while planets live and move, for it has brought 
to earth the most wonderful revelations of the human soul and 
given light on immortality that can never be quenched. 

THE LIMITATIONS OF SENSE. 

Measured by human standards — and we have no others to 
guide us — the purpose or object of thought is to enhance the 
power, both in scope and quality, of our intelligence, and to raise 
us as a personality, an intellectual and spiritual entity, into a 
higher sphere or grade of being. It has been said that some dar- 
ing explorer has just discovered some grass from the "path of 
rectitude." We are not at all surprised at the discovery. The 
"path of rectitude" is traveled by so very few people in these 
degenerate days, that the grass must grow on it with great luxuri- 
ance — in fact, the path itself is almost obliterated. There was a 
time when it was called a great highway; but cunning opened a 
track of policy beside it, and the world has generally preferred its 
greater smoothness to the rugged but more wholesome route 
maintained by the upright. Eays go out from the sun and help 
to constitute a world of life and beauty. In the same way, 
thought-waves proceed from the soul and take shape according to 
their inner nature. Men of science tell us that nature is evenly 
balanced on positive and negative principles; that the positive 
seeks the negative and the negative the positive, in all conditions 
and forms of life. If we wish to move a limb of our body, the 
act of willing frees a power which transmits itself to the branches 

52 



HPPNOTISM. 

of the motor nerve-system and influences the corresponding mus- 
cle. When we think, we do not indeed know what goes on in the 
"brain ; but it is a priori certain that in the complication of nerve 
fibres which we call brain, some sort of a force is active. Accord- 
ing to prevailing opinion, these powers of thought and will are 
locked up with the organism and cannot step over its circumfer- 
ence. Action at a distance is therefore denied. The occultist, on 
the contrary, asserts that these forces, like all forces of nature, 
are able to operate at a distance and ascribes to them various won- 
derful acts. The fundamental phenomena to which the repre- 
sentatives of this latter opinion can appeal, is animal magnetism, 
which conveys a force from a sound organism to a sick one with- 
out disturbance. This power is peculiar to every organism, but in 
different degrees; persons who possess it and can exercise it in a 
high degree are called magnetizers. Now, if the power animating 
the organism can operate at a distance, why not also thought and 
will? Because, so say the opponents, there is no animal magnet- 
ism at all. They do not, indeed, deny the phenomena to which 
the magnetizers refer, but ascribe them to another cause. So did 
the discoverer of hypnotism (Braid), who came to his discovery 
through magnetizer, Lafontaine. Seither has especially strength- 
ened more and more the opinion among physicians, that there 
is no human magnetism which could touch the privileges of the 
medical profession; but only a hypnotism, and that all apparently 
magnetic operations were only such through suggestion. If, they 
say, one can put a man to sleep through suggestion and then can, 
through further suggestion, produce physiological changes in the 
organism of the one hypnotized, it would be an unnecessary doub- 
ling of the cause, should one assume, in addition to this, a human 
magnetism. Auto-hypnotism was the next link in the new psycho- 
logical evolution. It was found that a man might hypnotize 
himself — in fact, that was "mental suggestion." Tyndal said: 
"Matter contains the potencies and possibilities of life." Crooke 
says: "Life contains the potencies and possibilities of matter." 
History shows that the progress of mankind is like the making of 
a steep ascent when the earth is covered with depths of sleet: 
when a rush to get forward is followed by a slipping backward; 
then another increase of intellectual vigor, and again a slipping 

S3 



HYPNOTISM. 

down the steep ; but by every fresh attempt, gaining inch by inch 
the summit. Some minds are like Fourth of July pin wheels; 
they run rapidly enough but go nowhere ; their light is sufficiently 
bright, but it cannot be utilized: their heat serves only to con- 
sume themselves. One of the greatest disadvantages under which 
the materialist labors in his investigation of animal magnetism 
and hypnotism and kindred subjects, is the inability to conceive 
of an unseen reality, an actual existence, which makes no impres- 
sion upon the physical senses. In this type of mind — the mate- 
rialistic — the belief that all real existence is necessarily known 
to man; that the five senses put him in possession of all that is, is 
hard to eradicate. Herbert Spencer tells us that the force that is 
manifested in the universe around us is the same force as that 
which wells up in ourselves under the form of consciousness. 
Identity, then, exists between our inner life — ourselves — and the 
inner.life — the universal force of the universe around us. Now, 
the intelligent investigator of hypnotism and animal magnetism 
who is trying to bring into an orderly system the chaotic and 
conflicting opinions of the separate schools of thinkers ; trying to 
harmonize their differences and have them work in concord on 
the great problem of hypnotism, must admit that taking an av- 
erage and comparing the ancient races, civilized and barbarous, 
with those at the present time which are classed in the same cate- 
gory, that we have done even better than the son of Erin's Isle, 
who said that he started with nothing and held his own; and 
that we have advanced a step toward solving the problem of hyp- 
notism; and where it is becoming more of a fact and not a fanci- 
ful theory that, "Our country is the world and our countrymen 
all mankind." Whether the world can be said to pronounce any 
verdict at all, except stupidly to wonder at and accept success, is, 
to most reflecting minds, a question. We do not think it can. It 
is the tyranny of events that overcomes it. Because we cannot 
transform the coarser into the finer, because we cannot resolve the 
so-called material into the so-called immaterial, as we resolve a 
solid into a liquid, into a gas, is no reason for denying the possi- 
bility of such transformation, or of hypnotism and magnetism, 
or of the unity of substances of the tangible and intangible. 
Study hypnotism and know how this wonderful machinery of 

54 



HYPNOTISM. 

yours operates. Understand nature's laws and listen to her com- 
mands, and obey them, and save doctors' bills and, perhaps, an 
undertaker's bill. What then may we conclude life is? Life is 
motion. Life is activity. Life is air. Life is vital force. Life is 
substance. Life is energy. Life is immortality. Life is all, and 
all is life. Life is unit. Life is eternal, without beginning or 
ending — omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent and invisible ! 
There are many expressions of life emphasizing its many changes. 
But life never ceases to be. Life is being. Life is the 
breath of God. Animal magnetism is the breath of man. All 
creation is evolved in accordance with the harmonious laws 
of vibration. Melody in the heart makes music in the life. If 
any man seeks for greatness, let him forget greatness and ask for 
truth; he will find both. If a man ever really receives the light, 
he can no more keep from radiating that light than he can re- 
frain from breathing. Remember, man-made laws are temporal ; 
God-made law is eternal. A young student in a certain theologi- 
cal seminary recently persuaded a fellow student to listen to him 
while he rehearsed a sermon. His subject was "Light." "With a 
violent gesture with the right arm he said, "Blot out the sun;" 
with a similarly frantic movement of the left arm he roared, 
"Blot out the moon !" then with a combined gesture, made with 
both arms, he bellowed, "Blot out the stars !" But it was enough; 
the auditor arose to leave and said, with a hoarse, cruel whisper, 
"Turn off the gas." Beauty is like a temple whose exterior is all 
that is seen by the profane. The divine mystery of the artist's 
thought reveals itself only to minds in sympathy with his own. 
The smallest part of a sublime work contains an inspiration 
which escapes the perception of the vulgar. The sensitive mind 
argues in vain against the brutal intellectuality of false education 
— a form of mental savagery still lingering in the human family, 
an inheritance of a barbarous past. Only naturalists and biolo- 
gists know how near to each other animal and plant life can come. 
Even to these students the dividing line is sometimes hazy. The 
theories of Linnans, of Ptolmey, of Galen — where are they now? 
Man has accepted them; he has profited by them; he has utilized 
them; he has now, long since, moved past them. It requires 
courage to move on. The pioneer, the path-finder, the leader, is 

55 



HYPNOTISM. 

often alone — hurt and pierced by misunderstandings, miscon- 
structions and misrepresentations; nevertheless, like a true path- 
finder, he must fare forth. To-morrow the rest will camp where 
the ashes of his tent are to-day. Progress is universal. Science 
is progressive. The larger hope of man lies in this fact. The 
science of medicine, law, biology, theology, in common with all 
sciences, are under the same dominion. A smart man once said 
that all German proverbs hit when reversed. If ever this was 
true it is certainly applicable to the adage: Vox populi, vox Dei 
(The voice of the people is the voice of God). Do not believe a 
thing simply because others do, but think and reason about it; 
consider it from all sides. There is nothing more valuable than 
truth, and therefore we should be cautious as to what we accept as 
truth. He who is deaf to the entreaties of his higher self is poor 
indeed, no matter what amount of power he may yield in worldly 
affairs ; but to him, who through silent prayer uncovers the higher 
self and obeys its promptings, is given a power the world knows 
not. It never wanes. Hence, if we love soulless things, we be- 
come soulless also; for we are giving our souls, our lives, our 
affections, our all to things that can give us nothing of real value 
in return. Thus we become empty and vacant, inviting disease, 
unrest and discord, as vacuums invite the tornado. 

"Hush ! Hark what sound breaks in once more 
As if the clouds its echo did repeat. 

Nearer, clearer, deadlier than before, 

To arms ! to arms ! It is — it is — the cannon's opening roar." 

Viewed in the light of dynamics, man is a regular steam en- 
gine. His motive power and mental volitions are verily great. 
A sound mind is the first principle of a sound body. Physical dis- 
order is to be traced back to mental disorder, though no clew may 
be found to special diseases. Both common sense and sound phil- 
osophy bid us seek the highest tonic in joy and the softest opiates 
in "the peace that passeth understanding." True elevation of 
mind does not take a being out of the circle of those who are 
below him, but binds him faster to them ; gives advantages for a 
closer attachment and conformity to him. Those who exercise 

56 



HYPNOTISM. 

their reason and intuition can accumulate a larger amount of 
truth than those who are inclosed within sectarian barriers. Most 
things are formed by a certain rate of vibration. Everything has 
its key-note to which it may respond, as a tuning fork will through 
a sympathetic vibration. The communication of thought and 
ideas from one mind to another, without the use of the spoken 
words, at great distances, has been practiced in all ages of the 
world by the spiritually unfolded man. It is the connecting link 
between the physical and the spiritual ; the determining factor in 
the continued existence of man ; the bridge over which the race 
marches to immortality; the keystone of the arch which bears 
aloft the possibility of eternal life. 

EVOLUTION" OF THOUGHT. 

"We do not pretend to say that we have arrived at the man- 
hood of our being; we do not claim perfection in the small ac- 
quirements of human life ; we know that we have just entered a 
superior realm from which all phenomena of hypnotism proceeds 
to establish itself, as appealing to our senses concerning that vast 
empire of thought beyond us. To-day we feel that we are not 
like the poor savage of former times. We are progressing. Hyp- 
notism, in whatever form it may manifest itself, always retains its 
original tendency to expand — to grow. Those who receive impres- 
sions directly from spiritual realms dwell in the sphere of vibra- 
tions. That the sun, moon, planets and stars have an effect upon 
the earth and its inhabitants, is as self-evident a truth as that they 
liave existence. The ebbing and flowing of the tides prove this, as 
well as the periodical returns of heat and cold, light and dark- 
ness. Those mediums who have breathed beyond the veil of 
things, beyond time and physical sense, have beheld this inner 
life of the Spiritual Sun — the Over-soul. They have felt the 
great truth of this idea. Some minds magnify little objects and 
belittle great ones, as the telescope makes the planets larger and 
the fixed stars smaller. Remember, experience is the father, and 
memory the mother of wisdom. The universe may be divided 
into three parts: The physical, the ethereal and the celestial. 
Each of these divisions present two aspects — the internal and the 
-external. The internal is the principle — the intelligent, ever- 

57 



HYPNOTISM. 

progressive essence ; the external is the vehicle or channel through 
which the principle expresses itself. The physical part of the 
universe is the vehicle of expression for the physical principle. 
This principle differentiates itself into many minor principles, 
each of which has a separate vehicle of expression. Every plant, 
animal or physical organism is a vehicle through which one of 
these minor physical principles is expressed. Hypnotism, animal 
magnetism, somnambulism and telepathy are vehicles, and 
rightly understood and applied, will prove a great benefit to man- 
kind. We regret that at present they are being used more as an 
amusement than for scientific investigation. However, this will 
soon wear out and the real value will push its way to the front. 
Hypnotism is the foundation for a true mental philosophy, 
the value of which to the world can never be estimated. Medita- 
tion in solitude becomes might in service. Chapin says: "Man was 
sent into the world to be a growing and exhaustless force. The 
world was spread out around him to be seized and conquered. 
Realms of infinite truth burst open above him, inviting him to 
tread those shining coasts along which Newton dropped his plum- 
met, and Herschel sailed, a Columbus of the skies." If we 
would only trust the ideals that come to us time and again, how 
much greater our intellectual cognizance of truth would become. 
In our department of educational arrangement this is thoroughly 
understood by all advanced students. This knowledge presents 
cause and effect in their rational and true light; enables one to 
estimate justly all the conditions of life, when and wherever ex- 
pressed. If the relation of sleep at night and, in some instances, 
its converse be real, we cannot reflect without amazement upon 
the extent to which it carries us. Day and night are things close 
to us; the change applies immediately to our sensations; of all the 
phenomena of nature it is the most obvious and the most familiar 
to our experience. To criticise, condemn and hurl anathemas at 
a problem does not settle the question or relegate it, as some 
think, to realms of shade and silence. Hypnotism will compel 
recognition, because a theme for universal study, regardless of 
the opposition of established schools. We can retard the truth, 
but never defeat it. Telepathy supplants physical touch with 
thought touch. We may read of nature's most exquisite crea- 

58 



HYPNOTISM. 

tions — the flowers, vines and trees — but we cannot come in 
thought-touch with them in that way, but must needs place our- 
selves in vibrational thought accord with them, as did the phil- 
osopher Bernadin Henry Saint Pierre, who said: "Thenceforth 
my histories and my journal were the herbage of the fields and 
meadows. My thoughts did not go forth painfully after them, as 
in the case of human systems; but their thoughts, under a thou- 
sand engaging forms sought me. In these I studied, without effort, 
the laws of that universal wisdom which had surrounded me from 
the cradle, but on which, heretofore, I had bestowed little atten- 
tion." Every color has a different significance because it has a 
general and special correspondence with tone or sound, or with 
the notes of the musical scale ; and this is more particularly true 
of the seven initiatory prismatic tints — "the flaming sword." In 
the efforts of human life to attain a condition superior to the one 
it at present occupies, the plan of the structure, whether it is in 
the realm of the mental or the spiritual development, must 
be a mental unf oldment of the plan, which is termed the ideal, 
held up before the vision — presented as a model to copy after. 
In all ages of the world, as far as we know, human beings have 
believed or assumed that man has a dual nature, consisting of a 
material part — the body, and of an immaterial part called the 
spirit or soul. As to this there seemed to be no doubt among the 
ancients. It was only when the question arose as to whether the 
soul continued to live after the death of the body, that doubts 
disturbed them. Just as the Blue and White Niles run parallel 
with each other for hundreds of miles, without mixing, so do two 
natures, quite as strongly contrasted, sometimes seem to be in op- 
eration simultaneously in the same individual, he being all the 
time unconscious of his own duality. Of course, such an one can- 
not justlv be called a dissembler. Character, in Greek, is from a 
word which signifies to engrave, to cut into, to furrow. So it 
means that which is engraved or cut on anything to mark it. In 
life it is, therefore, that which is distinctive in any individual; or, 
to put it more simply — it is that which experience cuts or furrows 
into the life. The mere fact of desiring to know about anything, 
opens up means towards gaining the desired knowledge. The in- 
tuition of man's spirit foreshadows all that we know of art, cul- 

59 



HYPNOTISM. 

ture and adornment. Self-hypnotism has escaped general at- 
tention. Self-hypnotism embraces the one-ideaism illustrated 
when a new truth is proclaimed. Everybody at once urges 
that it is absurd and that nobody but fools believe it. In a 
few years, when they find it gaining a foothold in influential 
circles, they say, "He was not the first to teach that;" and 
finally, "Why, I always believed that." O, temporal O, mores ! 
Strive, well improving your own talent, to enrich your whole 
capital as a man. It is in this way that you escape from the 
wretched narrow-mindedness which is the characteristic of every- 
one who cultivates his specialties alone. A high human soul is a 
temple dedicated to heaven and, like the, Pantheon at Rome, it is 
lighted only from above. Wisdom led us to place ourselves in 
the place of every other man. Wisdom led us to understand that 
we could not judge another ; for in judging another we were 
judging ourselves. Wisdom gave us sympathy, but forbade us 
pity. Your reputation is what men suppose you are ; your char- 
acter is what you are. To possess those hardy, rugged elements 
of endurance and virtue which mark God's noblemen is to be 
fitted for earth and ready for heaven.. 

SELF-HYPNOTISM. 

Another form of self -hypnotism: "Allow the thought, 
and it may lead to a choice; carry out the choice, and it will 
be the act; repeat the act, and it forms a habit; allow the 
habit, and it shapes the character; continue the character, 
and it fixes the destiny." The free thinker is he whose 
mind is divested of prejudice ; whose soul is awakened to new 
forms of truth. Prejudice is ignorance educated. There can be 
no freedom of the spirit where prejudice exists. It matters little 
if you are ignorant, for you will meet people daily who know it 
all. Man cannot make law; he cannot make a law of nature; he 
cannot make a moral law. It would be as easy to make the one 
as the other. The moral sphere was no more left without law at 
creation than was the physical sphere. Han can but discover 
and apply physical laws, or laws of nature. He can but discover 
and apply the laws of morality. The law of gravitation is no 
older than the law against murder or any other act destructive of 
rights. There has been no discovery in mechanics, mathematics, 

60 



HYPNOTISM. 

chemistry or literature of our day that was not a dream in the 
spirit of some man or men long before the procession of events 
marshaled it into line with the requirements of progress. Igno- 
rance is the only bar to the emancipation of hypnotism from all 
the adverse conditions which confront it. We are glad to be able 
to record each step in advance which humanity takes in its search 
for freedom. Psychologists have yet to record many curious 
workings of the mind and of hypnotism and self-hypnotism. 
When the bigot refuses to investigate the claims of a new system 
of thought or experience, for fear of unsettling his precnceived 
opinions or belief, he puts himself upon an intellectual level with 
the animal who eats hay. Sensation is the foundation of thought; 
on this, thought is based. Every sensation resolves itself into a 
thought finally. Painful sensations give forth painful thoughts. 
That the mind can so influence the body as to influence organic 
changes is well illustrated by a case detailed by Turke, where a 
woman saw a heavy weight falling and crushing a child's hand. 
She fainted and when restored to consciousness was found to have 
an injury on her own hand similarly located to that sustained by 
the child. ~Not only was there a wound, but it went through the 
various stages of suppuration, and healed by granulation. Other 
well attested proofs of this power of the mind over the body are 
afforded by the fact that a blister can be raised by mental sug- 
gestion; that stigmata, undoubtedly, occasionally appear on the 
hands and feet, and on the side, of certain women. Remember, 
they who possess the deepest knowledge of human nature are the 
least violent in blaming its frailties. The great trouble with some 
wise men is that they know too many things that are not true. 
In times of high feeling, debate only fuses opinions into convic- 
tions; only fans the flame and makes the fire a conflagration. One 
of the sublimest things in this world is plain truth. Faith is a 
great propelling power; without it we can do nothing; with it we 
can do everything within the range of human power. It is 
through faith that all the great achievements of the past have 
been wrought. The man who works without faith is a mere 
slave to some necessity or external force. The man with faith 
works from the promptings of his own inspiration and internal 
power, and in the direction of his faith. The evidence of faith 

61 



HYPNOTISM. 

is effort corresponding thereto. "Show me your faith without 
works, and I will show you my faith by my works.' 7 If men 
would have less to say about their faith and more to do about it, 
they would establish their right to their profession and do much 
to bring the world to a practical, working faith in the rule of 
rendering no man evil for evil. 

HYPNOTIC INFLUENCE. 

Hypnotism and telepathy: there is nothing at all supernatural 
about them. It is simply putting into practical application cer- 
tain natural laws, which at the present time are imperfectly un- 
derstood by the most progressive and advanced scientists. It is 
now sufficiently understood by many investigators — sufficiently 
to satisfy them beyond all question — that such a natural law 
exists. Indeed, there is nothing supernatural in the whole uni- 
verse. The entire universe is and has been governed by natural 
law. The world is beginning to understand that the most tre- 
mendous force in nature is the human mind. The power of mind 
over matter has long been conceded and partially understood; its 
power over disease is now being faintly comprehended. The in- 
creasing interest in hypnotism and animal magnetism is daily 
observable. <# Harriet Martineau, the English authoress, was 
deeply afflicted by a painful disease which defied the skill of the 
most eminent physicians, and rendered her an almost helpless 
invalid for years. After experimenting with all the usual means 
of cure attainable at the hands of the more skillful medical prac- 
titioners of her time, without appreciable benefit, as a last resort, 
Miss Martineau was induced to try the effect of hypnotism in her 
case. As a result she was completely restored to health and, 
rather from a sense of duty than otherwise, gave the public the 
benefit of her experiences, in a series of seven letters, originally 
published in the London Athenaeum; subsequently in pamphlet 
form by the well known ^ew York house of Harper and Broth- 
ers. In 1829 an eminent Parisian surgeon, M. Cloquet, ampu- 
tated a cancerous breast during a hypnotic sleep. The patient, 
although able to converse, is reported to have been entirely in- 
sensible to pain. This seems to be the first authentic effort at 
introducing anaesthesia for the purpose of avoiding the pain of 
surgical operations. Occasional recourse to the hypnotic trance 

62 



HYPNOTISM. 

for similar purposes was subsequently made in Paris and London, 
but not always with satisfactory results. That the use of hyp- 
notic anaesthesia is an enormous boon to the race is evident. Nor 
is the boon in the avoidance only of pain, but also of the nervous 
irritation that might delay, or even prevent, subsequent recovery. 
Thus it is possible for many operations to be safely performed 
which, without the use of hypnotism, would endanger life by the 
mere shock to the system. Remember, bad nerves weaken the 
action of the heart, oppress the lungs, destroy the appetite, stop 
digestion and partially suspend all the functions of the system. 
An emotion of shame flushes the face : fear blanches it ; and an 
instant thrill electrifies a million of nerves. Surprise spurs the 
pulse into a gallop. Delirium infuses great energy. Volition 
commands and hundreds of muscles spring to execute. Powerful 
emotion often kills the body at a stroke. Eminent public speak- 
ers have died in the midst of an impassioned burst of eloquence, 
or when the deep emotion that produced it suddenly subsided. 
Largrave, the young Parisian, died when he heard that the musi- 
cal prize for which he had competed was adjudged to another. 
The pleasantest things in the world are pleasant thoughts; and 
the great art in life is to have as many of them as possible. Vi- 
bration is nature's underlying law. Mind manifests itself 
through various grades of fineness produced by vibration. The 
different elements differ from each other not in substance, but in 
the rate of vibrations. A piece of ice can be changed into water, 
steam, vapor and gas; not by changing its substance, but by in- 
creasing the rapidity of its atomic vibrations. The soul — "the 
breath of life" — is a constant influx and efflux; it is not a fixed 
quantity at any time, as it is dependent on brain development 
and physical environment for its manifestation. The soul must 
of necessity vary as the physical conditions change; and the 
brain capacity of response, at any given time, is the full measure 
of the soul force or capacity at that special time. Nothing is so 
baffling as the mystery which lies back of all hypnotic and mag- 
netic phenomena. Dr. J. W. Robertson says, "more patients 
are saved by the firm and tactful influence and sup^estiveness of 
the physician than by the drugs which they prescribe, in the ma- 
jority of cases, to stimulate the imagination of the patient.'' The 

63 



HYPNOTISM. 

time is gone when everything improbable was branded "impossi- 
ble," and when "swindle" was the name for everything not in 
harmony with the traditional notions of what was possible. Said 
a learned professor in his valedictory address to his class: "After 
thousands of years of practice, the medical faculty know nothing 
positive in relation to the curing of diseases; we might possibly 
say, with some truth, '"We know that sulphur will cure itch ; 
beyond that nothing is certain. 7 " The world does need righting; 
the very greatness of that appeals to all men and women of high 
and chivalrous spirit. Liberalism, through the intellectual cour- 
age of our more modern metaphysicians, has of late advanced 
steadily and will soon become the ruling power of the world. Dr. 
Arndt, in 1816, operated upon one of his patients, from his 
dwelling (at an hour at which she was not accustomed to be hyp- 
notized). Her husband told him later, that she was going about 
very cheerfully, when suddenly she felt a heaviness in her head 
and went to sleep upon the sofa. The sleep lasted a quarter of 
an hour. Dr. Arndt had hypnotized her so long, and then waked 
her up. Dr. Barth hypnotized his patient at different times, at 
a distance of twenty miles. "When she was engaged in amuse- 
ment, at the dance, etc., the attempt proved a failure. His wife, 
who had never yet been hypnotized, wrote him once that she was 
sick. He was twenty miles away; waited until night, and then 
hypnotized her from that distance, willing that it should be 
known to her that he was hypnotizing her. A letter from his 
wife crossed his written message — on account of sleeplessness, 
from which she was suffering, she had gone straight to the win- 
dow, but suddenly became very sleepy and had the feeling of 
being hypnotized by her husband, whereupon she slept soundly 
all night long. Possidoneus says in relation to St. Augustine, that 
when he was afflicted with his last illness, there came a woman 
with a sick man to him and desired that he would touch the latter, 
that he might be cured; he having been told in his sleep that if 
he (St. Augustine, the bishop) laid his hands upon him, he should 
be relieved of his disease. St. Augustine, by request, laid his 
hands upon him, and he went home sound and cured of his dis- 
ease. Possidoneus records this as one of St. Augustine's greatest 
miracles. The saint died on the 15th of September, A. D., 430. 

6 4 



HYPNOTISM. 

The laws of hypnotism are only the necessary connection of cer- 
tain effects with their causes. ^All bodily organs are in sympathy / 
with the mind; and whatever affects one, impairs the other and 
vice versa. The brain is always active; and there is no such thing 
as dreamless sleep. From this fact it follows, that to increase 
mind growth, in harmony with air that uplifts and builds for 
righteousness and health, the environment must be made to evolve 
such desirable ends. We can never find the best way to 
be helpful, if we do not cultivate the desire to serve. Dr. 
W. P. Richard says: "The needs of social defense only 
demand the repression of criminal acts, when these are the 
expression of the personality of the agent; and since in the hyp- 
notic subject the individual reaction is abolished, the acts that he 
does under the influence of a hypnotic suggestion are simuly 
those of an automaton." These conclusions are at least debatable, 
says Binet, and rest on premises that contain an error of fact. The 
belief is too common to-day that it is possible to characterize the 
psychical state of hypnotism in a single word, and say it is a con- 
dition of automatism. In a vast number of cases the subject 
preserves his intellectual and moral identity. When he receives 
a suggestion to act, he may resist if the act is in contradiction 
with his character and he may resist the order, and even abso- 
lutely refuse to obey. Campili seems to have seen this difficulty, 
for he recalls that in an ingenuous article M. Boullier has ad- 
mitted a moral responsibility in dreams. But he meets this ob- 
jection with an argument of little weight : That the hypnotized 
subject does not preserve his personality in the same way that a 
sleeping person does. Binet holds, on the contrary, that the 
closest connection exists between the effects produced by sugges- 
tion and the state of dreaming. The hypnotic suggestion is noth- 
ing else than a dream produced and directed by assistants. In 
fact, the somnambulist is not an automaton — he is an individual ; 
and from the purely theoretical and moral point of view, he may 
be held partially responsible for his acts. These conclusions are 
in direct accord with those of M. Boullier. Auto-hypnotism: to. 
illustrate, keep your mind sound ; as wine savors of the cask it; is 
kept in, the soul receives a tincture from the frame through 
which it works. Many persons have a habit of brooding over 

65 



HYPNOTISM. 

their real or imagined ailments, and making the same appear as 
bad as they can — much worse than they really are — moping and 
complaining, making themselves and their friends miserable with 
the burden of their ills. They do this when, with a different 
mind, they might cast off the burden without unloading it upon 
others, and be well and cheerful merely by the right use of their 
own mind and thoughts. But remember the practical expression 
of the famous Eoman poet, Horatius: "Mens sana in corpora 
sana" i. e., "A sound mind in a sound body." "What is terror? 
Certainly nothing bodily; a mere mental condition, and yet it 
may be sufficient to exercise the most powerful influence over any 
of our organs — even to paralyzing them. How this occurs we 
know no more than we know how consciousness originates. That 
the Divine mind must be the source of all vitality, energy and 
evolution must be apparent to all thinkers. 

Hypnotism and metaphysical teachings are attracting consid- 
erable attention just now. 

Hypnotic science has advanced a part of the human fam- 
ily into the knowledge of eternal life. All truth — physical or 
metaphysical, secular or sacred — is God's will. Hypnotism's im- 
mense healing power is admitted by man. "When you come to 
fully realize this great, invisible power, you have a little knowl- 
edge of what truth is. As soon as one desires with all his heart 
and soul to know the truth, avenues are disclosed which show 
him the way to the path of wisdom. Experiments in hypnotism 
lie within touch and under our very eyes. Hypnotism enables us 
to understand every department of the mind. "0, truth of the 
eternal ! O, truth of things ! I am determined to press my way 
toward you. Sound your voice ! I scale mountains or dive in 
the sea after you !" The horrors of disease are too many to be 
enumerated. The evil is gigantic. 
E. A. Poe says: 

"I stand amid the roar 

On a self-tormented shore, 

And I hold within my hand 

Grains of the golden sand. 

How few, yet how they creep! 

Through my fingers to the deep, 

While I weep, while I weep ! 

66 



HYPNOTISM. 

O, God! can I not grasp 
Them with a tighter clasp? 
O, God ! Can I not save 
One from the pitiless wave? 
Is all that we see or seem 
But a dream within a dream?" 

This divine power of hypnotism lies latent in all mankind 
until developed. "We must continuously seek to see the 
good in others and to perceive greatness and merit wherever 
they exist. We must make our discoveries known to those 
whom they concern. Knowledge and wisdom have in- 
creased among the masses; while educational institutions, in 
their fundamental principles, have remained stationary. Unless 
the voice of humanity is heard and its soul needs are supplied, 
the present institutions will share the fate of those in bygone 
generations, whose wonderful structures now lie crumbled in the 
dust. When humanity, art, science and professional apuliances 
were young, all persons who chanced to discover any medicinal 
quality in a plant were required, by the religious ruling of their 
time, to make a record of the fact on a tablet of stone, which 
tablet was left open and free to be consulted by the afflicted 
world. It was a compilation by Esculapius, from this observant 
accumulation of ages, from which the incipient profession of 
medication sprung, and which was afterward improved by Galen 
and others. Because we have some little acquaintance with ma- 
terial things, we are apt to think that we understand them, when 
in reality we know nothing whatever of their nature or origin. 
All things change. The world and the worlds, with all in and on 
them, are in a state of pauseless change. Kestless mutation is 
universal law. One law only is unchangeable, it is the axis 
around which all revolves, and this is the law of change; this 
only is immutable. Times change and we in them. These 
changes are slow, gradual, imperceptible to the observer, and 
become visible by the accumulation of event after event — like 
the coral reef. Still the growth and the change go on contin- 
ually, although imperceptible to the observer. We are apt to 
slight the silent forces because they are silent. The thunder, by 
its startling crash, attracts attention more than the silent flash of 

67 



HYPNOTISM. 

lightning; but it is not the thunder but the lightning that 
strikes. 

The root principle supplies all the life and gives power 
and efficacy to all the actions. There would be no life, no 
feeling and no fruit, if there were no roots. There is a subli- 
mated age. Electrical, hypnotic and magnetic science have 
nearly changed our conception of the laws of energy. Every- 
thing in nature gives forth an aura or vibration, just as naturally 
as the rose exhales fragrant perfume. All persons who come in 
contact with these psychologic forces are capable of vibrating in 
unison. In hypnotism, animal magnetism and telepathy, mind i? 
as much of a magnet as the electro-magnet in telegraphing; and 
may be impressed by direct thought currents from abroad. 
Every mineral is necessarily a different chemical compound. But 
to understand what a chemical compound is, and what relation 
different compounds bear to one another, implies a knowledge of 
chemistry. 

The affections of the pulse of the soul, if we would know its 
state, we must observe how that pulse beats. 

"The steed named "Lightning," people say, 
Feeds on acids without hay; 
'Twas Franklin's hand that caught the horse, 
But 'twas harnessed by Professor Morse." 

Evolution, as the law of social progress, is something more 
than an interesting theory. It is an actual working force. In its 
light we may get a clear comprehension of the past movements 
of humanity; and what is of more immediate practical concern, 
we may get an understanding of present movements which would 
be otherwise unintelligible to us. Heretofore the human mind 
and human race has groped its way forward blindfolded. Philos- 
ophers have reasoned; physicians have observed; chemists have 
analyzed; physiologists have experimented and anatomists have 
dissected; but the part of man with which we are concerned has 
escaped them all. Remember, first mind and then matter, is the 
genesis of life. It is no new discovery but as old as Plato and 
Hindoos.^ The universe is a visible garment of the invisible. The 
earth and air all about us are teeming with life. We, in the 

68 



HYPNOTISM. 

midst of this life, are as ignorant of it as if it belonged to another 
planet. The Infinite is incomprehensible and immeasureable by 
the finite mind of man — therefore, it is not expected that all will 
agree. 

PECULIARITIES OF THE HUMAN MIND IN ITS RELATION 
TO HYPNOTISM. 

Man is a complex being and is possessed of a brute nature, as 
well as one human and divine. The common belief that human 
nature is the same through all the ages is a fallacy. It is accepted 
without proof. Human nature is capable of great change. This 
is one of the characteristics that distinguishes it from the brute. 
The most advanced races have very little resemblance to the prim- 
itive man. Public opinion at all times opposed true progress. 
Public opinion is the cavesson for every aspiring person who 
wants to paddle his own canoe. It is much worse than any other 
tyranny. Time is the bell-ringer of the universe. He strikes the 
hours even now; presently he will peal the chimes. With a little 
knowledge, men think themselves wise; with much, the reverse. 
This creates the silent man, who fears to speak, on account of his 
ignorance. As every belief must rest on the antecedent of reason, 
unbelief is either owing to want of search or to the want of rea- 
soning powers, to see the reasonableness of the belief offered. The 
more we look at ourselves, the less we shall learn of wiser things. 
To some people, "I" is larger than all the rest of the alphabet of 
life. The unselfish soul is "at leisure from itself," and so free to 
follow God and serve others. Knowledge and experience in 
hypnotism are beneficial when, like education, they are used as a 
benefit and not as a show. A knowledge and thorough under- 
standing of the fact of hypnotism is very important to physi- 
cians; it explains all phenomena of a so-called supernatural 
character. Knowledge in hypnotism is the branch of thought, 
and thought is the growth for the mind and soul. Valuable 
lives are often thrown away, lost, through ignorance of some of 
the most simple truths in nature, or errors of judgment in mat- 
ters where error becomes a crime. Some of the best and wisest 
and greatest men have perished from the world in consequence 
of what might be considered a carelessness, a recklessness, or an 
ignorance which is amazing. The hypnotic transit of thought is 



HYPNOTISM. 

lightning; but it is not the thunder but the lightning that 
strikes. 

The root principle supplies all the life and gives power 
and efficacy to all the actions. There would be no life, no 
feeling and no fruit, if there were no roots. There is a subli- 
mated age. Electrical, hypnotic and magnetic science have 
nearly changed our conception of the laws of energy. Every- 
thing in nature gives forth an aura or vibration, just as naturally 
as the rose exhales fragrant perfume. All persons who come in 
contact with these psychologic forces are capable of vibrating in 
unison. In hypnotism, animal magnetism and telepathy, mind i? 
as much of a magnet as the electro-magnet in telegraphing ; and 
may be impressed by direct thought currents from abroad. 
Every mineral is necessarily a different chemical compound. But 
to understand what a chemical compound is, and what relation 
different compounds bear to one another, implies a knowledge of 
chemistry. 

The affections of the pulse of the soul, if we would know its 
state, we must observe how that pulse beats. 

"The steed named "Lightning," people say, 
Eeeds on acids without hay; 
'Twas Franklin's hand that caught the horse, 
But 'twas harnessed by Professor Morse." 

Evolution, as the law of social progress, is something more 
than an interesting theory. It is an actual working force. In its 
light we may get a clear comprehension of the past movements 
of humanity; and what is of more immediate practical concern, 
we may get an understanding of present movements which would 
be otherwise unintelligible to us. Heretofore the human mind 
and human race has groped its way forward blindfolded. Philos- 
ophers have reasoned; physicians have observed; chemists have 
analyzed; physiologists have experimented and anatomists have 
dissected; but the part of man with which we are concerned has 
escaped them all. Eemember, first mind and then matter, is the 
genesis of life. It is no new discovery but as old as Plato and 
Hindoos.^ The universe is a visible garment of the invisible. The 
earth and air all about us are teeming with life. We, in the 

68 



HYPNOTISM. 

midst of this life, are as ignorant of it as if it belonged to another 
planet. The Infinite is incomprehensible and immeasureable by 
the finite mind of man — therefore, it is not expected that all will 
agree. 

PECULIARITIES OF THE HUMAN MIND IN ITS RELATION 
TO HYPNOTISM. 

Man is a complex being and is possessed of a brute nature, as 
well as one human and divine. The common belief that human 
nature is the same through all the ages is a fallacy. It is accepted 
without proof. Human nature is capable of great change. This 
is one of the characteristics that distinguishes it from the brute. 
The most advanced races have very little resemblance to the prim- 
itive man. Public opinion at all times opposed true progress. 
Public opinion is the cavesson for every aspiring person who 
wants to paddle his own canoe. It is much worse than any other 
tyranny. Time is the bell-ringer of the universe. He strikes the 
hours even now; presently he will peal the chimes. With a little 
knowledge, men think themselves wise; with much, the reverse. 
This creates the silent man, who fears to speak, on account of his 
ignorance. As every belief must rest on the antecedent of reason, 
unbelief is either owing to want of search or to the want of rea- 
soning powers, to see the reasonableness of the belief offered. The 
more we look at ourselves, the less we shall learn of wiser things. 
To some people, "I" is larger than all the rest of the alphabet of 
life. The unselfish soul is "at leisure from itself," and so free to 
follow God and serve others. Knowledge and experience in 
hypnotism are beneficial when, like education, they are used as a 
benefit and not as a show. A knowledge and thorough under- 
standing of the fact of hypnotism is very important to physi- 
cians; it explains all phenomena of a so-called supernatural 
character. Knowledge in hypnotism is the branch of thought, 
and thought is the growth for the mind and soul. Valuable 
lives are often thrown away, lost, through ignorance of some of 
the most simple truths in nature, or errors of judgment in mat- 
ters where error becomes a crime. Some of the best and wisest 
and greatest men have perished from the world in consequence 
of what might be considered a carelessness, a recklessness, or an 
ignorance which is amazing. The hypnotic transit of thought is 



HYPNOTISM. 

not hindered or deflected by space, as is thought conveyed by 
physical speech, which must be carried on coarser physical 
vibrations from tongue to ear, to be interpreted at second- 
hand by the observant, listening mind. To hear some people 
talk, one might imagine that science had only to do with sur- 
faces and physical tests. But what about the conscience, reason, 
reverence, aspiration, spiritual insight, love? When a human 
mind is engaged in thought, upon any special line or subject, it 
is in a reservoir of thought related to that special subject. Ac- 
cording to its sensitiveness, it receives and assimilates thought 
from other minds throughout the universe. There are in 
hypnotism, animal magnetism, telepathy, sleep-walking and 
somnambulism as many phases of psychic phenomena as 
there are grades or strata of humanity. Some time since, in 
Paris, a poor somnambulist was seen to be pacing backward and 
forward on the top of a house six stories high, at nightfall. A 
large crowd soon assembled and anxiously watched her move- 
ments. She was evidently dreaming of some coming festival and 
was humming a lively air. Again and again she came to the edge 
of the imminence on which she was standing, and again and again 
she receded, always smiling and always unconscious. At last her 
eye caught sight of a candle in the house opposite. She awoke; 
there was a cry; a heavy fall, and all was over. The visible phe- 
nomena of hypnotism, animal magnetism, somnambulism and 
telepathy are bound together by the universal law of cause and 
effect. 

The effect is visible or perceptible, while the cause is in- 
visible or imperceptible. The falling of an apple from a tree is 
the effect of a certain invisible force called gravitation. Al- 
though the force cannot be perceived by the sense, its expression 
is visible. All perceptible phenomena in hypnotism, animal mag- 
netism and telepathy are the various expressions of different 
forces which act as invisible agents upon the subtle and imper- 
ceptible forms of matter. Many introspective natures seem ab- 
sorbed in the expectation of a "supreme moment" of life, when 
they will rise to some rare height of vision that will be a spiritual 
inspiration and assurance to them ever afterward. But these 
heights of life are not reached by contemplation and expectation ; 

70 



HYPNOTISM. 

nothing can elevate ns to them bnt moral and spiritual action — 
the uplift of noble, helpful and unselfish deeds. The higher life 
is not living somewhere outside of the earth ; but it is a living 
within your own soul. We are prone to cling to many things 
that injure us; we are prone to fling aside many things that 
would do us good. Fine sensibilities are like woodbine — delight- 
ful luxuries of beauty to twine around a solid, upright stem of 
understanding; but very poor things if they are left to creep 
along the ground. For ages, knowledge has been a potent factor in 
the development of humanity. The first stage of the history of 
the world reveals the deification of force. The strong man was the 
great man, and to him homage was rendered. The physical ele- 
ments of man were emphasized in those days. Gradually men 
rose out of the life of the body into the higher life of the mind, 
and pushed knowledge to the front, as volitional force tends to ex- 
tricate itself more and more from the influence of circumstances 
it assumes from the great attribute of freedom. 

HYPNOTIC SUGGESTION; POWER OP MIND OVER MATTER. 

Eeason is the great truth-organ of the soul. Let us be true 
to it. Xow, the class of phenomena investigated under the 
name of hypnotism attracts more general attention, because the 
scientific and the popular mind is more advanced and in a more 
receptive mood. As the race advances in knowledge of hypnotism 
and in psychic lore, and in an unfoldment of the spiritual nature, 
the faculty of hypnotism will become more and more stimulated 
into activity and become a guide and power in the human family. 
Sixty eminent physicians and dental surgeons conducted some 
very remarkable hypnotic experiments, in Berlin, in the case of 
a girl whose tonsils were removed by an absolutely painless op- 
eration. During the state of coma, the patient obeyed the slight- 
est suggestion of the hypnotizer. Another patient was hypno- 
tized by a letter, in the absence of the operator, written to a sur- 
geon named Turner, and worded thus: "Go to sleep by order of 
Br. Bramwell. Obey Mr. Turner's commands." Dr. Bramwell 
also hypnotized another patient by a note sent by the hands of his 
daughter; and still another, by a message sent by telegraph. The 
subject is one of deep interest in all departments of human na- 
ture, but more especially in the domain of life. Persons can also 

7i 



HYPNOTISM. 

be influenced by mental suggestions alone. ~No one can fathom 
the limit of consciousness. Invisible agents or forces in their 
inter-relation with the imperceptible particles of matter make up 
the subtle states of the phenomenal universe ; therefore, we may 
say that every gross form is but an expression of some subtle 
force acting upon subtle particles of matter. In some individuals, 
the hypnotic suggestion received may, in its effects, ebb and flow 
through a lifetime; with others it vanishes as soon as they are 
out of the magnetic aura. All physicians who have devoted 
themselves closely to the magnetic sleep, are unanimous that the 
hypnotic sleep is simply deeper than ordinary sleep, and that it is 
not only harmless but even refreshing, like the latter. Every 
psychologist knows that ordinary sleep presents many analogies 
to insanity; yet no one would, on that account, forbid us to sleep. 
~No tale in the "Arabian Nights," no story of the wondrous treas- 
ures taken by mystic power from magic nutshells, surpasses what 
hypnotism is doing to-day. This is an age of sleepless inquiry, 
and consequently of innumerable doubts touching God, man, life 
and immortality. The protoplasm or molecule as a fact, and evo- 
lution as a theory, have set adrift a large percentage of mankind. 
Old anchors have been weighed or are dragging. If you do not 
understand the visible things which appear to your objective 
mind or the invisible which vibrate on your subjective mind, and 
refuse to learn from nature the great lessons of life, light and 
love, how is it that you expect to know anything of the higher 
spheres of human ethics or immortal psychics ? To understand a 
picture one must be sure of the central figure. To mistake the 
central figure, is to mistake the picture. 

A STRANGE FORCE. 

We take a piece of wrought iron which weighs one pound, 
and place it upon a block of steel which weighs three thousand 
pounds; it does not adhere in the least. We then place it in an. 
electro-battery, under certain conditions, and on removing it, find 
that its weight has not been increased in the slightest. This 
proves that not a particle of matter has been added to it. Next 
we place it upon the same block of steel, and discover that it ad- 
heres with so much tenacity that it will raise the steel bodily, if 

72 



HYPNOTISM. 

sufficient power is applied. Here is a wonderful force which 
cannot be termed a material force, because it cannot be weighed. 
Some philosophers declare that it is not matter. Then what is 
that force? It is invisible and imponderable; whereas matter 
can be made both visible and ponderable. A million of material- 
ists might swear that the force was material and ponderable, but 
their oaths would only be "authority" against a fact in nature; 
and authority is not proof. Again, we find that the electric 
forces that pervade the air are different from the electro-mag- 
netic forces that pervade the earth; that run from the poles to 
the equator. If the skin be touched repeatedly with light from a 
small hammer, the brain will distinguish the fact that the blows 
are separate, and not a continuous pressure, even when they fol- 
low one another as rapidly as one thousand in a second. Mental 
progression is slow because of the barriers placed in our path by 
hereditary conditions. When we cry aloud in our ignorance, at 
the injustice of fate in depriving our life of the glamour of false- 
ness, then we should glance down the columns of time and study 
the advance of mental and moral progression. Hepler avowed 
himself in a mad ecstacy when he wrung from the planetary 
system a profound secret. The Syracusan philosopher was over- 
joyed by the solution of no very considerable problem. From 
the fog and sea Columbus wrested this western world and laid it 
— as a proud trophy — an ocean gem — at the foot of the throne 
of Castile and Leon. Self-suggestion, as all know, is capable of 
producing the most extraordinary effects on the nervous system 
— so extraordinary that mere "orating" is, in comparison, quite 
a trifle. "Men," says Professor Huxley, the noted scientist, "can 
intoxicate themselves with ideas as effectually by dint of intense 
thinking mental conditions, hardly distinguishable from mono- 
mania." On one occasion when Professor Huxley had lectured 
on the nervous system, a city lady came up to him and said: "I 
am so much obliged for your charming lecture; so very interest- 
ing and clear. But there is one point I did not quite understand." 
"Thank you, madam, I shall be pleased if I can explain to 
you any point I may have insufficiently expressed." "Well, 
Professor Huxley, what I want to ask is about what you called 
the cerebellum. I did not quite gather whether it is inside the 

73 



HYPNOTISM. 

skull or outside." The brain is a complex and fragile structure, 
curiously and wonderfully made. The fine and delicate cells in 
which the soul thinks its thoughts are liable to disease which no 
physician's skill can reach; but which hypnotism can reach. In 
the light of advancing knowledge and the new discoveries which 
hypnotic science is unfolding, the thinker is dumbfounded. Veiled 
in a mystery, impenetrable alike to the acutest intellect and the 
clearest intuition, is the origin of man. The causes of all phe- 
nomena, the sources of all life, intelligence and love, are to be 
sought in the internal — the spiritual realm; not in the external 
or material. A man is considerably out of date who says he does 
not believe a thing, simply because he cannot do that thing or 
does not understand how the thing is done. There are three 
classes of people — the "wills," the "won'ts," and the "can'ts;" 
the first accomplish everything; the second oppose everything, 
and the third fail in everything. The work of investigation of 
hypnotism, animal magnetism, somnambulism and telepathy has 
at least and at last begun in America. 

TELEPATHY. 

The power of thought transference is an awakening breath 
from the spirit universal. In thought transference, which is the 
basis of all strictly psychic phenomena, the brain is both a trans- 
mitting and receiving instrument, successful according to its sen- 
sitiveness. Every word whispered into the air starts vibrations 
which will quiver on and on forever. The same is true also of 
influences which go out from hypnotism and telepathy and from 
our lives in the commonest days. This should make us most 
careful what we do; what we say; what quality of life we give to 
the world. The influences will go on forever. Who knows not 
that the heart of man is greatly influenced by the moral atmos- 
phere which he breathes. He is disposed to an affinity with the 
good very much in proportion as his mind is kept in the genial 
tone which its due relaxation promotes. Make a man happy, his 
action will be happy too; doom him to dismal thoughts and mis- 
erable circumstances, you make him gloomy, discontented, mo- 
rose. Human lives are like the photographer's sensitized plates 
— receiving upon them the image of whatever passes before 
them. Mind is that which constitutes all of the impressions made 

74 



HYPNOTISM. 



upon the plates of the sensorium. Consequently mind grows as 
impressions are multiplied. There are great and small minds for 
a certainty, measurable by the extent and amount of impressions 
received on the plate in the camera of the brain during one's life 
career. The impressions are made as a photograph is made. 

What is revelation ? Is it something new ? No, it is a showing 
forth again. There is nothing new under the sun. If there were 
anything new, it would not be true, because truth is from ever- 
lasting to everlasting. A man coins himself into his labor; turns 
his day; his strength; his affection into some product, which re- 
mains as the visible sign of his power; to protect that, to secure 
that to him, to secure his past self to his future self, is the object 
of all government and self-government. Biology is the science and 
philosophy of life phenomena in material organisms, a term which 
applies with equal force to all phenomena of life or soul expression 
from the lowest to the highest organism — the vegetable, the man, 
the infinite universe of spirit and matter. The words spirit and soul 
are ancient terms, used to signify the vital principle or flame, the 
animating power of life, a principle or force that vivifies atomic 
life — brings form into shape. All of nature's laws are general. 
If progress can be claimed in one phase of her realm, it must be 
conceded in all. This is a principle to be applied to all opinions; 
all conditions; all beliefs. A revision is ever necessary. Keep 
pace with new evidence. There is hardly a thinking man to-day 
but will concede to almost any kind of a proposition in the way 
of new discoveries, as long as it is inside the boundaries of intelli- 
gence and reason. There are persons so sensitive to the very 
atmosphere, that not only thought waves from other minds can 
be intelligently received by them, but the air itself seems to 
become a reservoir of knowledge to them, from which they derive 
information of matters and things that are taking place, or have 
taken place, far and near, of which they have gained no possible 
idea from external means. Two students had a lively friendship 
for each other. After the completion of their studies, their des- 
tiny separated them, but they did not cease to retain their cordial 
relations. Each entered upon the practice of medicine. One 
night, after the lapse of several years, one of them was the prey 
of an impression against which he struggled in vain. He seemed 



HYPNOTISM. 

to hear a voice that told him that his friend was in a city near to 
him; that he was ill and in danger of death, and that he was send- 
ing to him his last farewell. He was so much moved bj the 
thought, that on the morrow he went to the city, all the time feel- 
ing that he was acting somewhat absurdly. He found his old 
comrade in a hotel at which, while on a journey, he had been 
obliged to stop on account of illness, and where he was then, in 
fact, in the agonies of death. "Ah !" said the sick man, as he saw 
his friend, a so you did hear the call that I sent to you mentally? 
Yesterday evening I became convinced that my end was near. I 
thought earnestly of you and, although I had not informed you 
where I was, I was still sure that you would come." The position 
and reputation of the survivor, who tells this story, are such as to 
make it impossible to believe that he is in error, or has any inten- 
tion to deceive either himself or others. As nothing is known 
about the nature of the soul, it would be impossible to conceive 
what the state of the soul is at such a time. The fact that a per- 
son may cease to exhibit any sign whatever of life and yet not be 
dead, proves that the soul is an independent thing. A startling 
psychological experience was the fatal dynamite explosion in the 
Coney mine, near Skykomish. One of the two men killed was 
R. "W. Robinson. At precisely the time he was stunned by the 
concussion, his young wife, sleeping in Renton, had a vivid dream 
of her husband being killed in an explosion. She awoke in great 
agitation and was so greatly impressed by the vision, that she 
aroused her mother, Mrs. Jones, and told her of the occurrence. 
In spite of all assurance to the contrary, the young wife insisted 
that her husband had been killed; and it was in the midst of her 
lamentations that a message was brought from Skykomish, tell- 
ing briefly of the accident. Mr. Robinson lived three hours be- 
fore internal hemorrhage caused death; and during a part of that 
time his mind was deliriously active. It was then, undoubtedly, 
that the vigorous horror and imagery of his own mind was trans- 
mitted to the sensitive brain of his wife. All things which exist, 
whether mineral, vegetable, animal or spiritual, have certain 
qualities which are recognizable by one or more of our senses — 
either when in a mental or somnambulistic condition, and it is 
the God principle, or the portion of God in everything, that en- 

76 



HYPNOTISM, 

ables our senses to recognize them. If this principle were not in 
them, they could not exist. The physical eye, when in a som- 
nambulistic condition reveals facts that the natural eye cannot 
compass, for it not only peers into the secret recesses of the natu- 
ral world, but it also mounts into the regions of spiritual exist- 
ence. Man's soul exists not only while it finds expression through 
the human form, but also continues to exist after the form no 
longer serves as a medium for its manifestation. The spiritual 
realm is simply that territory which is unseen by fleshy eyes ; un- 
perceived, indeed, by the external senses. Remember, while to 
mortal ears sound ceases at thirty-eight thousand vibrations per 
second, such waves may speak in thunder tones to immortals. 
The vast zone lying between thirty-eight thousand and three 
hundred and ninety-six trillion waves per second may be truly 
the sphere of souls, in which darkness, silence and death are un- 
known. It is a silly thing to believe that the grave ends all use- 
fulness. Death — so-called — which John Stuart Mill defines as 
"A mere cessation of the stimulus of the sensible world," clothes 
us with a more subtle, pervasive and beautiful corporeity. To 
"the land of souls," as Byron called it, we all migrate sooner or 
later. The migration, we may believe, is a change of corporeal 
costume, rather than a long journey to a distant land. Many, 
and perhaps most, people possess to a greater or less degree that 
interior sense termed the power of vision. In proportion as man 
has failed to recognize himself as a living soul, he has become 
subject to the limitations of sense ; unable to accept immortality. 
Those in the primary grades of individual evolution cannot com- 
prehend things of great import. "No words of explanation can 
avail until development makes it possible. Herbert Spencer says: 
"Experience is the sole origin of knowledge." We infer that, 
without experience, there can be no knowledge on any subject. 
It is fortunate for the human intellect that so many problems are 
yet to be settled. There is something to do in future ages. 

MIND AS A MENTAL AND CHEMICAL COMPOUND. 

The universe is an automaton ; a vortex of vortices multiplied 
— speeding, whirling, gyrating around a center ; one eternal, har- 
monious, concrete whole. Motive power is the Deific Trinity 

77 



HYPNOTISM. 

God; the Omnipotent, the Omnicient, the Infinite Love. "We 
cannot understand the mysteries . of divine nature. How absurd 
it would be to expect it ! We cannot begin to understand the 
mysteries of the created human nature! Life with men must 
have form; but form may exist without life. Our existence is 
made up of a multitude of experiences. This forms our charac- 
ter, which is our personality. Of course, there is a psychical or 
spiritual side to evolution. Evolution is a process. The word 
indicates how present forms of life have come into being. It 
does not explain the reason why; nor explain the underlying 
principle. Life is the subtlety of intelligent activity; the tactile 
sense by which she handles matter; the crucible in which she 
crystallizes chemical changes into mortal forms. For conven- 
ience we label a certain class of facts astronomy, geology, chem- 
istry, biology, etc. But all these sciences are but segments of a 
circle, parts of one great science— the science of the universe. All 
the sciences being related, there can be no complete knowledge 
of any without thorough knowledge of all. We are told of atoms 
and molecules; but what is moving them? They move to some 
purpose. There can be no purpose without mind. Science must 
take in the foundation of a spiritual genesis. Enlarge its scope 
and reverse its philosophy. Can intelligence exist separate from 
mind? Yes, intelligence is inherent in the smallest particle of 
matter. The atom, in its attraction and repulsion to forming of 
molecules and masses, each change of "like to like," is a mani- 
festation of intelligence. Motion is constantly showing its en- 
dowment, intelligence. Wise teachers of old, proclaimed the 
immortality of the soul, with no uncertain voice; reasoned that, 
in consequence of the soul-abiding nature and the transitory 
state of the body, the latter was no part of the real man — only a 
tool for him to work with. We are in no sense our bodies. They 
are machines which we operate and that is all. Because the in- 
strument is mortal, the performer does not forfeit or fail to pos- 
sess immortality. Look at man's physical body! What is his 
brain? It is the trestleboard upon which you map out every- 
thing you want to do; everything you want to know. A definite 
conclusion is engraved more distinctly and firmly than a half 
idea, or wavering conclusion. This is the secret: you draw 

7* 



HYPNOTISM. 

jour plan of life. The seeker after divine wisdom should always 
remember that he is a terrestrial as well as a spiritual being. 
Whilst climbing heavenward, he should never lose touch of the 
earth, but should preserve both his physical and mental equilib- 
rium. Materia medica and materialistic science, in every depart- 
ment, have all looked upon man as intrinsically and prmarily a 
material being, and all their philosophies have been based upon 
such an assumption. 

For two hundred years the scientific world has been rent 
with discussion on the origin of life. One school has held that 
matter can of itself produce life; the other holds that life can 
come only from pre-existing life. The discussion has been practi- 
cally closed. All branches of science now agree that life cannot be 
evolved from matter, but must be the direct result of pre-exist- 
ing life. Huxley says: "The doctrine that life only can pro- 
duce life is victorious along the whole line at the present day." 
Tyndall regretfully confesses : "No shred of trustworthy experi- 
mental testimony exists to prove that life in our day has ever ap- 
peared independent of antecedent life." Drummond says: "A 1 
decided and authoritative conclusion has now taken its place in 
science. So far as science can settle anything, this Question is 
now settled. The attempt to set the living out of the dead has 
failed. Spontaneous generation is to be given up. It is now rec- 
ognized on every hand that life can come only from the touch of 
life." Then God is the source of all life. Life in the soul is the 
tide of the divine ocean flowing through the narrow channel of 
human nature. It is the direct gift of God. The story of the 
growth of any notable thing is always a matter of common in- 
terest. Even to-day, the minds of the great historians are ponder- 
ing over the mysteries of creation; are attempting to deduce 
the process by which the dewdrop, the quartz crystal, the blade 
of grass and the universe came to be what they are. So, too, in 
the literary world there has always been a keen study of motives 
and influences, as they have been at work in the formation of this 
or that masterpiece of rhyme, reason or fancy. In the Kabala, 
and wherever the songs of the Seraphim are described, it is said 
that one choir of angels asks another: "Where is the place of 



79 



HYPNOTISM. 

God's residence/' and the response is, "God's glory fills the uni- 
verse." 

We cannot explain the existence of the simplest thing with 
which we are familiar. A grain of sand is as inscrutable in 
its nature and origin as the solar system. Its tiny being is the 
manifestation of a substance and a force which the wisest philos- 
opher will strive in vain to comprehend. Emerson says: "The 
philosophy of six thousand years has not searched the chambers 
and magazines of the soul. In its experiment there has always 
remained in the last analysis a residuum it could not resolve." 
"Every human being/' says Channing, "is intended to have a 
character of its own, to be what no other is, to do what no other 
can do." Ideal will be onr reality bye and bye, when we reach 
the spiritual plane ; but, meantime, mundane things impress their 
reality upon us. The true philosopher will endeavor to realize 
both and preserve the equilibrium between them. 

SOUL-SENSITIVENESS. 

There is a far more intimate connection between terrestrial 
and super-terrestrial states than most people imagine; and with 
the rapidly increasing soul-sensitiveness of large numbers of peo- 
ple all over the world, which is a characterizing feature of the 
incoming year, or new age now dawning, the seeming chasm 
between the so-called two worlds will be bridged. All may be- 
come cognizant of truth, if they will. All may unravel, in a 
degree, the mysteries of the hidden laws of being. Those only 
who seek with sincerity and earnestness will be able to partake 
of the glorious knowledge which comes to those who obey na- 
ture's and God's laws, both physical and mental. Man is just 
emerging from material conditions into soul-life. Materialism is 
being driven into the last ditch, and its surrender is inevitable. 
Man is becoming aware of himself; he is beginning to understand 
that soul is the only reality, and that matter, as seen in the ma- 
terial universe, is only the manifestation of soul in the various 
degrees of its unfoldment; that the material avenues of sense are 
only mediums of rapport between soul — himself — and the ma- 
terial universe. In philosophy the perfect materialist is he who 
affirms that there is but one thing in the universe, and that that 

8d 



HYPNOTISM. 

is matter. Yes, the study of civilization is the most interesting of 
studies. Marcus Aurelius's Meditations, 121, 180 A. D., says: 
"Nothing has such power to broaden the mind as the ability to 
investigate systematically and truly all that comes under thy ob- 
servation in life." A manhood and a womanhood worthy to fill 
earth's highest, as well as its more lowly places with potent 
forces that shall be the motive power in directing the course of 
this generation in all that appertains to its life, its work and its 
destiny. 

The world needs patriots and martyrs to truth. The 
wheel of progress in its revolutions should crush out the chaff 
from all teachings, leaving only that kernel which, though 
buried for centuries, springs into life when permeated by that 
light which streams forever from the "Inspirer of all Life." The 
great fact that law governs in the universe of matter and of mind, 
that from the smallest atom of matter to the largest and most 
majestic orb in space, each and all are under the eternal and irre- 
coverable grasp and control of fixed and unalterable laws, from 
which nothing can possibly escape. Not a sparrow or a mote can 
fall to the ground and the very hairs of our head are numbered 
by this. We cannot escape these, turn as we will and do what we 
may, we are always and forever under the stern and unflinching 
dominion of law. The soul is the real man. Man is a soul and 
has a material body, which is merely a temporary garment for 
momentary use. As a soul, man is in the human form, has 
brain and heart, eye and hand, and every organ external and 
internal which belongs to a human being. The body is cast into 
the moulds of the soul, receives all its power from it, and in every 
particular is merely an instrument for the service of the soul. 
Place an iron nail within two inches of a magnet and in a short 
time the nail becomes magnetic by molecular transmission. In 
this case we know molecular action takes place between those two 
bodies ; yet we have no sense telling us of the fact. "We only know 
it by its effects, that is, by the nail having a magnetic quality 
which it did not have before being placed near the magnet. This 
nail retains the magnetic quality for some time, no matter to what 
distance it may be removed from the magnet; its molecules are 
affected by absorbing part of the magnet; so in healing. It is 

81 



HYPNOTISM . 

reasonable to suppose that the connection subsists between the 
two bodies, so long as the magnetic quality remains in the nail. 
As we have no sense to recognize the transmission of this quality, 
we cannot recognize the connection. Soul is the great life on 
which matter rests, as rests the ponderous globe on the free and 
fluid ether. Soul impregnates matter. Matter embodies soul. Na- 
ture is the revelation of soul in space. History is the revelation of 
soul in time. Soul sleeps in the stone; grows in the plant; stirs in 
the animal; wakes in the man, and will work on until the present 
chaos and old night are taken up into the higher evolution. The 
mind occupies every corpuscle. Soul precedes time and space; 
builds its own structure, and makes its' own environment. The 
psyche is present even in the lowest forms; it exists, but for want 
of fitting organs it is too dim for our faculties to ken; and in- 
crease in mind force only takes place with that of organism. The 
pebble climbs to a rose and the rose to a soul. Cosmic unity runs 
on the broad roadway of law through all the world. Man has the 
planet for his pedestal ; the grasses gather to compose his form and 
the winds hold him in solution. He who would be more scientific, 
must go on to the study of astronomy where he will learn all 
about the solar system and the influence of the same upon our 
earth and upon the minds of men, and then reach out into the 
stellar regions and become acquainted with the starry heavens, 
as the work of the great Creator of the universe. Nature in- 
spires us with a love of life, but cannot teach us how to die. 
Heaven would win us into death, as the sun wins buds into blos- 
soms. Shakespeare makes Hamlet say: "What a piece of work 
is man! how noble in reason! how infinite in faculty! in 
form and moving how express and admirable ! in action how like 
an angel ! in apprehension how like a god ! the beauty of the 
world! the paragon of animals!" Man's twofold nature is re- 
flected in history. "He is of earth;" but his thoughts are with 
the stars; mean and petty his wants and desires, yet they serve a 
soul exalted with grand, glorious aims; with immortal longings; 
with thoughts which sweep the heavens and "wander through 
eternity !" a pigmy standing on the outward crust of this small 
planet; his far-reaching soul stretches outward to the Infinite, 
and there alone finds rest. History is a reflex of man's double 

82 



HYPNOTISM. 



life. Every epoch lias two aspects, one calm, the other agitated, 
petty, vehement and confused, looking toward time. Seek not a 
candle's feeble rays white within thee is the center sun, irradiating 
the chambers of thy soul, revealing untold wonders of things 
present and things to come. We may walk through some fair 
garden at midnight, with the lilies and carnations, the azailias 
and roses all about us, but unseen and unrecognized, on account 
of the darkness; and only when here and there a whiter bloom 
gleams out and sweet, faint odors from unseen sources steal 
through the dewy stillness, do we feel and know that we are 
within the garden amid the shrubs and flowers. Now, shall we 
doubt the existence of the flowers because we cannot see them? 
So, too, we may sit on some hillside, with the glorious landscape 
spread all around; yet, owing to the dark pall of night thrown 
over hill and valley, we can see nothing of nature's widespread 
loveliness. But it is all there just as real and existent as though a 
summer's sun were pouring his beams down upon it. The mere 
fact of conditions being such that we do not see or feel a thing 
does not militate against its reality of existence. You wake up of 
a summer's morning and the air is filled with mist and fog and 
the whole atmosphere about you is distinctly visible ; you can see 
but a little distance through it. But in a short hour it is all 
gone ; everything is clear and all has become invisible ! Has 
anything been lost? Is anything gone? No, only a change of 
atmospheric conditions! What before was visible, by contact 
with heat, by attenuation, has become invisible ! So, all through 
the material world, invisibility does not prove non-existence. The 
word of God speaks of many things about which we doubt and 
waver simply because in our intellectual and spiritual feebleness 
we cannot comprehend them ! We may lay it down as a fixed 
fact, that in moral, spiritual and intellectual things, that which 
has taken place in the past is possible in the present and future. 
The mind can see without the aid of physical means. Man will 
always be interested in the problems, the wonders and the specu- 
lation of this and the future life. Let us cultivate our thinking 
faculties; knowledge, both general and spiritual, will grow pro- 
portionately. It is a spiritual gift that enables one to have a 
clear view of things not apparent to the outer senses — in fact, 

*3 






HYPNOTISM. 

they can hardly be said to search out the things that are re- 
vealed, for these simply come to them. 

SELF-DELUSION" AND ITS RELATION TO CUNNING AND 
SELFISHNESS. 

"I honor the man who is willing to sink half his present re- 
pute for the freedom to think; and when he has thought, be his 
cause strong or weak, will sink t'other half for the freedom to 
speak ! !Not caring what vengeance the mob has in store, be that 
mob the upper ten thousand or lower." — Lowell. 

Men cheat themselves; they mix their ambiton and their 
philanthropy, and persuade themselves that philanthropy is the 
horse in the shafts of the chariot, when it is ambition only. It is 
the wolf in sheep's clothing; the bear with the cow's skin covering 
his ferocity. Our noblest deeds are not winged and trumpeted. 
Our saying is not half so grand and enduring as our doing. Our 
best deeds are not the loudest-voiced. Our noblest charities are 
not advertised. Our pity doesn't need labelling. Eemember for 
what purpose you were born, and through the whole of life look 
at its end; consider, when that comes, in what you will put your 
trust; not in the bubble of worldly vanity — it will be broken; not 
in worldly pleasures — they will be gone ; not in great connections 
— they cannot serve you; not in wealth — you cannot carry it with 
you; not in rank — in the grave there is no distinction; not in the 
recollection of a life spent in giddy conformity to the silly fash- 
ions of a thoughtless and wicked world; but in that of a life spent 
soberly, righteously and wisely in this present world. Whatever 
advance is made along the upper lines of civilization, comes 
through man's larger knowledge of his true relation to the human 
race and his assumption of possibilities that he, as an individual, 
alone must bear. The awakening to this higher consciousness is 
the open door to the world's betterment. Upon molecular life, 
which is the mineral growth life, which is the vegetable and in- 
stinctive life, which is the animal, is founded a life of life, which 
is mind. The face of man thus travels through the universe; 
and love and intelligence look out from things with an infinite 
variety, according to their capacities. Through the investigatioL 
of physical scientists, we have learned that thought is dynamic; 

8 4 



HYPNOTISM. 

that it is both force and motion. If you have the power of hold- 
ing to the conditions or environments, you will carry it into ef- 
fect. 

Demosthenes filled his mind with great purposes before he 
filled his mouth with pebbles. Great thoughts are the first essen- 
tial of eloquence. Time without an end and space without a 
limit are two things which no human being can possibly compre- 
hend. The truth is the foundation of inspiration and is open to 
all who will climb the heights where it is situated; if men cannot 
attain it, it is only because they are too worldly. Life's influences 
are an intricate web; they are so interwoven that no man can 
identify his own particular thread, nor measure its effect upon 
countless other threads. The centripetal and centrifugal forces 
are necessary in the cosmos to produce planetary movements in 
their proper orbits, that these celestial bodies may not collide and 
destroy one another; as Job had understood the grand scheme of 
existence, when he said of God: "He who maketh peace in his 
high heavens.'' And yet these two forces are evidently antago- 
nistic; in the main, they counteract each other mutually. Still, 
each being good in itself, even their collision is productive of 
good only. The same is the case in the realm of reason; in all 
departments of human activity; the collision of honest, upright 
and earnest reasoners is productive of the perpetual motion of all 
human affairs. ~No man is the sole architect of his own fortune. 
Even the prophet E"oah must have his carpenters to help him in 
his ship-building. Even a Solomon must hire help of Hiram. 
So all corresponding states of cause and effect become recognized. 

Man begins to understand how each one's web of life is woven, 
and that each one is compelled to meet his own production and 
not that of another. Knowledge of things in general enables 
man to practice what has long been meaningless precept, and to 
manifest good will toward all and malice toward none. The dif- 
ference between ignorance and stupidity is the inability to know, 
through lack of development, and the unwillingness to learn, 
through animal stubborness. The former is excusable ; the latter 
is not; for stubborness is not far removed from selfish conceit; 
and the latter is what generates bigotry. How noble should be 
Mir action; how faithful our thought; how restrained and true 

85 



HYPNOTISM. 

our speech ! When we think of many characters of which we shall 
form a part, how strongly should we build our own ! When we 
think of immortality in man, how eagerly should we labor to 
be worthy of that immortality. To die and know that men, when 
they think of you will be gayer, truer, more loving, more pitiful, 
more God's children — that would make death's face look kind. To 
die and know that when men think of you no inspiration will 
arise, but only the memory of gloom, or hatred, or falsehood, or 
pitilessness — that makes death terrible. Be otherwise; let your 
works follow you with inspiring power; speak from the grave to 
comfort, kindle and redeem. And, remember, nothing condemns 
more powerfully the violence of the wicked man and woman than 
the moderation of the good. Man, as the offspring of his Infinite 
Parent, is his highest representative on this plane of being, the 
perfect man being the most complete embodiment of the Father's 
"fullness" which we can contemplate. Sorrows may crush you, if 
you let them fall on you wrongly; but, if you bend a little, they 
fall on the earth and pack the soil more firmly about your roots — 
give you a better hold on earth and a firmer lifting of being, to 
ward the upper heavens. If a branch is lopped off, perhaps it will 
help you grow more symmetrical. Pruning, and thinning of fruit 
makes the rest more luscious, and the yield larger. Selfishness be- 
longs to the inhuman, for it is implied heartlessness or lack of 
sympathy for others, and makes the owner ignoble in action ac- 
cording to the force dominating. Nobility and dignity can only 
come out of love or accompanying good deeds, kind feelings, gen- 
erous impulses and charitable thoughts. A great poet has said: 
"Self-reverence, self-knowledge, self-control, these three alone 
lead life to sovereign power." It is most true. Self -reverence de- 
pends upon self-knowledge, and it leads to self-control ; and these 
are the elements of the only true greatness of mankind. Let us 
sweep aside all the world's estimates of greatness; the puppets of 
wealth and rank; the inch high dignities of the thistle and the 
mole hill have no place here. Our smart apparel; our small 
pomposities; our little hardships; our various titles; our great 
possessions — with, one touch of death's finger how they shrivel 
and vanish into nothing — less than nothing ! Only the inherent 
grandeur of the bare soul remains, and a pauper's death mn^ be 

86 



HYPNOTISM. 

far grander than a king's. The world has often deified its mere 
insects, just as Egypt worshiped beetles and crocodiles; it has put 
the diadem upon brows that should have had the branding-iron, 
and thrown purple over shoulders that should have had the whip. 
The world bows to Dives and Nero and Caiaphas, but true hu- 
manity knows them not and true praise despises them. Yes, good 
for the purpose for which they were created. The buzzard and 
the swine are good scavengers; also the serpent has its place. 
Measure by measure of a man. Genius, art, invention, love, free 
thought, justice, amity, truth philosophy and progress — these 
constitute the elements of a true nation. Cunning has only pri- 
vate and selfish aims and sticks at nothing which may make them 
succeed. Discretion has large and extended views and, like a 
well formed eye, commands a whole horizon. Cunning is a kind 
of short-sightedness that discovers the minutest objects which are 
near at hand, but is not able to discover things at a distance. 
Discretion, the more it is discovered, gives a greater authority to 
the person who possesses it. Discretion is the perfection of rea- 
son, and a guide to us in all the duties of life. Cunning is a kind 
of instinct that looks only after our immediate interest and wel- 
fare. Discretion is found only in men of strong sense and good 
understanding. Cunning is often to be met with even in brutes, 
and persons who are but the fewest removes from them. In short, 
cunning is only the mimic of discretion and may pass upon weak 
men and women in the same manner as vivacity is often taken for 
wit, and gravity for wisdom. Man, physically and mentally, may 
be regarded as the complete resultant of a stream of inherited 
tendencies. It seems almost to be taken for granted by the ma- 
jority of men that money is of more value than anything else. 
Character, reputation, absolute fidelity, to even the finest shades 
of distinction, between honor and dishonor — the almighty dollar 
seems sometimes to weigh all these down and sit enthroned on a 
man's eternal soul. Envy is strongly characteristic of littleness 
of mind. A truly noble and generous man feels no enmity to- 
wards a successful rival. It is related of an Arabian king that 
when his architect had finished for him a structure of surpassing 
magnificence and beauty, he ordered him to be thrown from its 
highest tower, for fear he might build a palace of equal or su- 

87 



HYPNOTISM. 

perior beauty for some rival king. Hate and intolerance have 
their parts with wrecks and ruins. Their blighting breaths wither 
the fairest flowers of hope and make the heart of humanity a 
desert, where love would make it blossom as the gardens of the 
gods. Language fails to present a picture of the world as it ought 
to be. The mind, chained by dull customs to the things that are, 
fails to grasp the meaning of the things that might be. Life ties 
and binds together, and about some common center starts the 
spiral revolutions of an upward progression; but death breaks 
and separates and crashes down into silent and motionless inac- 
tion. Death has its mission; it is as necessary to evolution as 
growth itself; but it must make for life; it must become an abject 
slave. Woe to the man whose dead hopes or dead faiths still wear 
crowns. Sing no dirges to a dead heart, but let your own living 
heart sing and know that the heart of God is never still. There 
is no dead nature — no dead world, unless your own vitality is 
ebbing away. In most lives the centripetal forces abound over 
the centrifugal. Thought and feeling revolve selfishly about the 
self -center, instead of generously tending off on lines of sacrific- 
ing service; and when men are long indifferent toward us, we 
grow indifferent to their indifference. Life can be compared to a 
spiral along which the individual walks, sometimes slowly and 
painfully as he makes his way up the ascending curve that leads 
from gloom and adversity to the sunlight; then a brief journey 
and the joys of life, and the descent begins; and so up and 
down, but ever onward, until the last curve is reached and the 
world journey ends. Our future in that unknown land is deter- 
mined by the upward or downward trend of our last steps. We 
need not employ deep metaphysical arguments to show that this 
life is a state of trial for us — it is an obvious fact. The important 
part is our relation to the future life ; what we must do to attain 
our destiny. It is the bearings that the premises of rigorists have 
upon this point that makes them important and worthy of atten- 
tion. He who is false to present duty, breaks a thread in the loom 
and will find the flaw when he may have forgotten the cause. All 
men and women must meet themselves and become well ac- 
quainted. It is a curious fact in history that no nations degen- 
erate so low as those which have occupied the most exalted posi- 
tions. 

88 



HYPNOTISM. 
LIFE AS IT IS AND MISDIRECTED INTELLECT. 

Life is generally made unendurable to those who are born 
ahead of the age in which they live. Plato, Copernicus, Galileo 
and Columbus were all more or less punished and ridiculed while 
alive. Now, those men are almost worshiped, though much of 
their wisdom is a stumbling block to modern science — just as 
prior wisdom was a stumbling block to those men. The world is 
slow to acknowledge the truth and genius of the present; but is 
at the same time freezing and starving the living present, which 
is indefinitely postponed for future deliberate notice. So moves 
the world, velocity accelerated in proportion to amount of past 
energy exercised. It is always safe to learn, even from our en- 
emies; it is seldom safe to instruct, even our friends. Every one 
of us has some chain to drag along which prevents him from 
searching out truth as cheerfuly, earnestly and helpfully as he 
should do, if he were unshackled. Galileo, Columbus, Jenner, 
and the many authors who have had their first manuscripts re- 
turned, are among those of the world's benefactors whose early 
dream met with ridicule. There is something in the popular 
mind that clings to tradition and custom and holds the progres- 
sive to be impossible, and therefore ridiculous. Progress first 
meets with ridicule, then persecution. Public opinion always 
howled "crucify ! crucify !" whenever an uncommon mind ap- 
peared and announced a new idea. 

GALILEO'S PRISON SONG. 

"Though you fear me, though you doubt me, 
I shall win whatever befall; 
Though you jeer me, though you flout me, 
Truth and I against you all ! 

"Though you bend me, though you break me, 
Time and I against you all; 
Time and truth at last shall make me 
Lord of you who am your thrall ! 

"Though you chain me, though you burn me, 
Yet the earth, though that befall, 
Moves; and though you daunt and turn me, 
It still moves in spite of all I" 



HYPNOTISM. 

Calumny and ostracism have taken the place of stones and 
swords in dealing with the prophet. It is much more respectable 
to cut a man's head so slick that he doesn't realize it, than it is to 
bungle the job with a mere sword of polished steel. The world 
has always stoned its prophets. Progress, in this respect, hinges 
upon misdirected intellect. It is the law of life that the penalty 
of ignorance, the pain of imperfection, falls not on one but on all. 
One brotherhood and one blood flows uninterruptedly, an endless 
circulation, through all men, as the water of the globe is all one 
sea and, truly seen, its tide is one. We are so bound and knit 
together that suffering in one results in suffering to others. ~No 
man ever yet paid the penalty of broken laws that others did not 
share it with him. As it is impossible to protect or shield the 
wrong-doer from the consequences of his act, so it is impossible to 
shield from suffering those who are bound or related to him. 
"When a man imagines he is made of a little better clay than other 
men, set him down as a piece of earthenware, half baked; there is 
a flaw in the composition somewhere; he calls more for pity than 
censure, for a fool cannot help his mental deficiency. There is a 
living gospel in the world, but it is not perceived by those who 
are blinded by prejudice and biased by the traditions of the past. 
Truth is gauged by the power of conception, and concepts are 
formed by one's environment. There is a pleasure which comes 
without seeking — that which attends loyally to the truth and 
faithfully to the right. A commanding officer of a prominent 
British regiment, having requested a drill sergeant to ascertain 
the religious views of some new recruits, the latter were paraded 
and the sergeant cried out: "Fall in ! Church of England men 
on the right ! Eoman Catholics on the left ! All fancy religions 
to the rear !" 

WE CLING TO OUR BELIEFS SIMPLY BECAUSE THEY 
CLING TO US. 

Suppose a mountain of diamonds, glittering in the sunbeams, 
were at a distance from a company of men, but visible to them 
by their radiant light. Suppose that between this treasure and 
these men were strong barriers and all sorts of obstructions which 
they must remove or surmount before they could reach this 

90 



1 



HYPNOTISM. 

mountain, the object of their desires. Now, should they be in- 
structed that the true way to reach it is to keep the eye contin- 
ually fixed upon it, and the desire going out to it, the attention 
abstracted from everything else? Think you that by following 
this showing they would ever grasp the treasure? Will looking 
after it, aspiring after it, with the strongest possible desire, with- 
out an attempt to clear the avenues that lead to it. so that they can 
pass through them and reach it, ever give them the desire of their 
hearts? Surely not. Progress is improvement. It measures not 
the ground passed over, but what has been gained in passing. 
There are people who imagine that so long as they are going from 
one thing to another, they are progressing ; and there is probably 
no greater hindrance to advancement than the modern habit of 
dropping the last method, or idea, or machine, for the next that 
comes in sight. Many persons who have all the latest methods at 
their fingers' ends are making no more progress than did the little 
girl who tried hard to gather a bouquet, but dropped a flower 
every time she reached out to pluck a new one. True progress 
consists in bringing forward from yesterday the good of yester- 
day, and adding to the store the good of to-day. "What of the 
tidal wave ? That mysterious, indispensable swelling of the waters 
that, following the "pull" of the moon, rolls round this globe of 
ours twice in each twenty-four hours, stemming the outflow of 
mighty rivers, penetrating far inland wherever access is avail- 
able, and doing within its short leave of life an amount of benefi- 
cent work freely, that would beggar the wealthiest monarchy of 
the world to undertake, if it must needs be paid for. Mysterious 
it may well be called, since though its passage from zone to zone 
be so swift, it is like all other waves, but an undulating movement 
of that portion of the sea momentarily influenced by the suasion 
of the planet — not, as vulgarly supposed, the same mass of water 
vehemently carried onwards for thousands of miles. Mountains 
are suggestive of streams. The dead, level countries know no 
gushing springs, no swift, purling brooks, no clear, beautiful 
rivers. The plain is often parched and bare, when from the moun- 
tain side flow fountains of life and fertility. Water is typical 
not only of both of these, but of cleansing and peace. What 
makes sweeter music than the patter of the rain upon the roof, 



9* 



HYPNOTISM. 

the babbling of the purling brook over the pebbles and stones 
and rocks? What grander than the rush of mighty waters over 
the stupendous cliff; the roar of Niagara, "the sound of many 
waters," like the voice of God? No matter if storms are raging 
in the desert and in the mountains ; no matter what clamors fill 
the air, the voice, soft and low, avoids them all and beats upon 
the ear, as on still nights a far-off melody steals out upon the air, 
and thrills its pulses with music. We receive a telegram, but it is 
only a thought. It is simply a triumph of mind over matter. It 
is a defiance, by science, of time and space. It is material alto- 
gether. But there is soul in a telephone. It says, in effect: 
"Come talk with your friend ; I will carry to him your voice ; not 
one tone or inflection shall be lost or changed, and you will feel 
that he is by your side." The laws of mind and the laws of 
matter can mean nothing more. Hypnotism and telepathy prove 
the power of mind over matter. Telepathy proves the limitless 
soul power. Hypnotism at a distance and telepathy prove a 
strange power, unseen by the fleshy eye. They prove the wireless 
telegraph; they prove immortality. 

I AM THAT I AM. 

r All noble impulses are speechless prophets and bring the 
things which are to be into the mental horizon to be recognized 
by the searcher after truth. Genius has its moments, or periods, 
when the being seems to be touched by a master hand. "We see 
the all engrossing question which still remains before the greatest 
minds: "What are we; whence have we come; and whither are 
we going?" Everywhere shall the life of man have an attractive 
influence and corresponding relationship, and the thought of the 
Divine Fatherhood will be more clearly understood by the say- 
ing of the Scripture : "In My Father's house are many man- 
sions;" through which man shall be conducted in his upward 
progress and future development. Death is but the ending of one 
form and birth the beginning of another. Force and substance 
are the generally acknowledged fundamental principles or prime- 
val essences of life, and from which we derive our consciousness. 
Let us exclaim with the suffering isolate in the desert: "0 Life, 
Light of Life ! Life of my Soul, illumine me ! I am noth- 
ing, shine within me; light a lamp in my soul that I may see my- 

92 



HYPNOTISM. 

self and know Th y will. Who shall overcome the earth and the 
world of death ? Who shall find out the path of virtue as a clever 
man finds out a tree? He who knows that body is like froth, and 
has learned that all things are unsubstantial, he shall break the 
arrow of death.' 7 Behold a rift in the clouds ! there is hope in 
the near future when there shall be reciprocity of wisdom — a 
recognition of the brotherhood of man and the Fatherhood of 
God. Oh, Mighty Infinite, where art Thou and where art Thou 
not ! Where dost Thou make Thy habitation and where is that 
spot which Thou dost not inhabit ! Thou hadst no beginning; 
likewise wilt Thou find no ending of days ! Thou hast no bounds, 
no dimensions, and to Thy power to unfold in every new and 
varying forms and conditions, who has fixed the limit ! Likewise 
as is Infinitude itself, so also are each and all of its atoms ! No 
bounds are fixed for their habitation and their bountiful provi- 
sion, how like unto Thine own ! The bounds of the soul where 
are they? and what is the limit of its power? Oh, Mighty One ! 
So does man resemble Thee in his unfoldment and his possibili- 
ties ! As man reaches the confines of a new sphere, he hears the 
echoes of new and strange sounds eternally reverberating along 
the corridors of thought and reaching far into the abyss, sweet 
with the eternal resonance of ever unfolding life ; he knows there 
is no death — there is no death. But Life, everlasting Life and 
Light. Give us Light, Light, Light ! 

THE MUSIC OF THE SPHERES. 

"What is that grand 

Celestial band 
Which everybody hears, 

Whose strain we all, 
Enraptured call 

The Music of the Spheres? 

"Who thinks how all 

In each bright hall 
Whirl round, yet know no fears 

Of clashing, kneels 
In soul and feels 

The Music of the Spheres ! 

93 



HYPNOTISM. 

"This whirling world, 

Which God once hurl'd 
In space, and still uprears, 

Sings, rolling round, 
Without a sound, 

The Music of the Spheres ! 

"It would be vain 

To try to explain 
That song none other peers; 

But in its peel 
[All men can feel 

The Music of the Spheres ! 

GAEL SEXTUS. 



94 






SUGGESTION IN TRANCE PHENOMENA. 

By H. S. DRAYTON, M. D., Bellevue Medical College, New York City. 

To account for the phenomena of hypnotism, the doctrine of 
"Suggestion" has been accepted by many observers as meeting 
most of the requirements of a philosophical solution. The cele- 
brated medical school of Nancy, France, of which Liebault is the 
founder, is accredited with introducing methods of suggestion, 
although we may tender to Braid, the English student of mes- 
meric or transiform conditions, our respect, as antedating both 
the Nancy and Charcot schools, in formulating the procedure by 
which hypnotism is produced in their practice. 

Looking with disfavor on the view of a fluid or force opera- 
ting from or through the hypnotizer, Braid was led to think that 
the effect produced on a subject was of a subjective nature, — the 
subject magnetized himself, or put himself to sleep, — it was only 
necessary for him to concentrate his gaze or attention for a few 
minutes on some object j a bright point or any common object 
might be sufficient to produce the trance. This theory certainly 
simplified the matter, and disposed of much of the marvelous en- 
vironment that had rendered the subject discreditable in the opin- 
ion of scientific men for many years after Mesmer's time. But 
when we review the data of Braid's many interesting experiments, 
we do not find that he is altogether successful in either their ex- 
planation or interpretation on the line of a self -induced subjectiv- 
ity. Equally successful is a much later writer, presumably of the 
Charcot circle, who in certain allusions to the work of the Man- 
chester surgeon considers modern science indebted to him "for 
having drawn the line sharply between the erroneous pretensions 
of those who believe more or less in what purports to be animal 
magnetism, or neuric force, that may issue from the nerves of 
one individual and enter those of another, and the very interest- 
ing effects that may be produced in sundry parts of the nervous 
system of an. individual under the influence of a special irritation 
coming from another part of that system." 

Mesmer in his doctrine of a fluid or force proceeding from 
the magnetizer, but echoed the ancient teaching, and injured his 

95 



SUGGESTION IN TRANCE PHENOMENA. 

cause in the esteem of learned people, by his resort to trickery 
and the arts of the mountebanks for the sake of gain and a cheap 
reputation. Braid in his early espousal of the side of those who 
in their zeal for science, saw in animal magnetism nothing more 
than the effect of a deluded imagination upon a credulous mind, 
neglected or failed to appreciate the bearing of many facts ob- 
tained in his experiments; indeed, he was not complete master of 
his own data. However, it should be said that in the correspon- 
dence with Mr. M. Brooke, a well known lecturer on animal 
magnetism of that day, it would appear that Braid changed his 
position somewhat with reference to the relation of hypnotism 
and animal magnetism. Mr. Brookes remarked in a letter to 
Braid, "I am very glad you have believed it your duty to change 
your original view as to the identity of your phenomena with 
those of Mesmerism. From the first day I admitted the impor- 
tance of your discovery, but could not accept this identity, and 
I found fault with you for the violence with which you con- 
demned the partisans of animal magnetism, because they would 
not agree with you/' 

In his book entitled "Neurypnology, or the Rationale of 
iNervous Sleep," published in 1843, Braid writes: "I long be- 
lieved in the identity of the phenomena produced by my method 
and by that of the believers in mesmerism; but, nevertheless, 
judging from what the magnetizers declare that they produce in 
certain cases, there seems to be sufficient difference to regard hyp- 
notism and mesmerism as two distinct agents." Thus the leader 
of modern observers in psycho-physiological phenomena had be- 
come ]ess confident of his position in respect to the idea of an 
influence or force proceding from the agent in cases of somnam- 
bule expression; and one would think that experiments such as 
those with the uneducated factory girl would have inclined him 
to doubt the possibility of a merely subjective consciousness be- 
ing competent to the exhibition of such extraordinary musical 
powers as were hers in the trance state. 

The term "suggestion," introduced with such frequency of 
late years, has assumed an importance much beyond its common 
significance. Having a direct relation to the activity of the men- 
tal faculties in all processes of normal apperception and reflec- 

96 



SUGGESTION IN TEANCE PHENOMENA. 

tion, it could easily become a factor ready to hand, in attempted 
analyses of intellectual and psychological operations in the pri- 
mary or the subjective consciousness of a given person. It is 
easily seen, therefore, that the principle embodied in the term 
lias its application in attempts to interpret hypnotic or magnetic 
phenomena in positive or "scientific" terms. 

The methods commonly employed for hypnosis are sugges- 
tive, especially for therapeutic purposes; so, too, in the case of 
experiments having in view somnambulic effects for the most 
part; and it may matter little whether resort is had to a proced- 
ure that fatigues the optic nerve centers, or is gently persuasive 
of repose and sleep. The later writers, like Bernheim, admit the 
method of gentleness as more serviceable for medical purposes. 
It is in the hypnotic sleep that impressions made upon the mind 
have their effect upon either the physical or psychic condition. 
This hypnotic sleep, according to the ]N"ancy or Charcot school, is 
similar to the ordinary sleep, — an assertion that we may not con- 
trovert, — but to say that the hypnotic sleep is similar to the mag- 
netic, in general, We can not accept, for in the hypnotic trance 
the individual is merely subject or responsive to the suggestion or 
impression made by the agent or physician. But in the mag- 
netic trance, he may indicate peculiar properties and powers of 
mind entirely independent of suggestion, and speak in a manner 
having no relation to the purpose or thought of the agent. There 
may be, indeed, a spontaneous expression of mental capacity en- 
tirely beyond that of the agent, and without any intimation or 
knowledge on the latter's part of its character. 

The Harvard professor of psychology has voiced the logical 
inference drawn from phenomena of this class, in saying: "The 
great vivacity of the hypnotic images (as gauged by their motor 
effects), the oblivion of them when normal life is resumed, the 
abrupt awakening, the recollection of them in subsequent trances, 
the anaesthesia and hyperesthesia which is so frequent, all point 
away from our simple waking credulity and 'suggestibility' as the 
type by which the phenomena are to be interpreted, and make us 
look rather toward sleep and dreaming or toward those deeper 
alterations of the personality known as automatism, double con- 



97 



SUGGESTION IN TRANCE PHENOMENA. 

sciousness, or second personality, for the true analyses of the hyp- 
notic trance." (James.) 

Observers of so called hypnotic phenomena, who have gone 
beyond the province of occasional experiment for an evening's 
amusement, will, I think, generally agree with the Harvard pro- 
fessor, despite the insistance of Professors Bernheim and Heiden- 
hain that the trance condition with its wide range of psychical 
manifestations in the exalted somnambule is due to an impression 
somehow produced upon the cerebro-spinal organism of a suscep- 
tible person. 

On one occasion, a few years ago, I was consulted by a lady 
for neuralgia, who had never been hypnotized. In the course of 
an interview, and while she was sitting in an easy chair, I passed 
my hand downward along the course of the spinal column; nob 
touching her dress. Suddenly she bent forward, complaining 
that it hurt her severely. I asked, "What hurt you?" She re- 
plied, "A certain point in my spine." I then asked, "What 
caused the pain?" She answered, "I don't know, but I had a 
feeling of pressure going down my back, and when it reached 
a certain point there was a really sharp pain." 

I went behind her, and being sure that she could not see my 
movements, passed my hand upward and then downward over 
the vertebral column, without contact, and each time the hand 
arrived at that sensitive point she complained of the pain. She 
could not assign any reason for it, aside from the thought that 
my hand in some way exercised an influence of which she was 
very apprehensive, and which irritated a sore spot in the upper 
lumbar region. This is by no means an uncommon phenomenon 
to those who give "magnetic treatment." 

Again, an experiment that I have often made is to blindfold 
the subject or place him in a distant part of the room; then to put 
a half dozen or more coins upon a table, and with a finger tip 
touch one or two for a moment. Calling the subject to the table, 
I ask him to pick out the "hot ones." This, as a rule, is done 
without hesitation. 

It seems to me that it must be reasoning drawn to an exceed- 
ingly tenuous thread, or pointing to a most subtle correlation of 
fore-brain centers,, that would account for these incidents by 

98 



SUGGESTION IN TRANCE PHENOMENA. 

suggestion. Better the alternate term "impression" that some 
use, and which seems to us as involving naturally the operation of 
some force. 

An American observer of considerable original research, and 
inclined toward the suggestion theory, Mr. Henry Clark, re- 
marked in a letter to the writer, after some show of sarcasm 
toward those who accept the "force idea": "Part, and I doubt 
not a large part, of such a sleep is the result of the man's own act, 
unconscious, involuntary, or automatic; and if I were to guess, 
wthout knowing, I should guess first that he was the principal 
master in the case." 

Ochorowicz, I think, it is, notes that Liebault, himself, has 
admitted that there is a specific influence exerted by the mes- 
merizer upon his subject, which did not come within the range of 
his line of suggestion. This the master of mental healing could 
say with sincere consistency, for suggestions work with sufficient 
effect in the simple primary sleep of hypnosis. In the advanced 
sleep or trance of mesmerism, we have the relation of rapport 
between subject and agent that exhibits its remarkable features. 
This rapport, as I have said substantially in another place, (Hu- 
man Magnetism) shows a concentration of the subject's attention 
upon his magnetizer that much exceeds the relation between phy- 
sician and patient in hypnotic treatment. 

Ochorowicz notes with marked clearness that, "Molecular 
■dynamic differences (of personality, say) pass beyond the surface 
of the body in the magnetic rapport; that a certain vibratory 
tonic movement, peculiar to a given organism, is propagated be- 
yond its periphery, and can influence the subject so definitely, so 
palpably, that there is real action." Further, the magnetizer's 
organism, already active by its very presence, becomes more ac- 
tive when in the dynamic mass that constitutes its personality, 
there is developed by concentration of thought and tension of 
will, a center force, strengthening the invisible but most real 
bond that unites the two organisms. Should the operator be rel- 
atively inattentive to the subject, or be preoccupied in mind by 
some extraneous matter, the effect of his influence will be much 
weakened. This could scarcely be the case in mere suggestion. 

Also, it is beyond question that in the somnambulic state the 

LofC. 99 



SUGGESTION IN TEANCE PHENOMENA. 

organs do not act in the ordinary way; the subject sees or be- 
comes conscious of conditions in himself or others by a process of 
sense perception that is quite foreign to the ordinary. In his 
"Psychology and Occult Psychic Phenomena/ 7 Dr. Raue offers 
an explanation of this process on the basis of a theory that the 
organs of the body possess a consciousness which becomes highly 
percipient in the magnetic state. He says in one place, "One 
who is accustomed to self -observation will readily discern any 
functional disorder that takes place in any part of his body; 
though we do not, as a rule, mind the normal workings of our 
physical frame, any disorder therein makes itself quickly felt by 
the corresponding percipient forces, — the vital senses. Although 
we do not call this a 'seeing' of what goes on within us, it is nev- 
ertheless, a consciousness of the process and sometimes a pretty 
painful one. If we now add to this fact, that in the mesmeric' ' 
(and consequently still more in the deeper somnambulic) "state, 
the higher senses are completely subdued and the vital senses cor- 
respondingly exalted, it is not difficult to see that the perceptions 
by those lower senses must likewise be exalted, approaching in 
weakness and power the normal activity of the higher senses with 
which they form a whole, — a human soul. The perception by 
these lower senses then becomes 'seeing,' comparatively speaking; 
that is, a becoming conscious of certain states of the organs 
within the body, as if they were seen, which knowledge will 
necessarily correspond to the knowledge the subject has acquired 
in normal life, but which may be cultivated gradually by contin- 
ued exercise to higher concepts, which in the course of time may 
become very clear conscious mental modifications." 

I am not sure that this explanation will suit the hard-headed 
inquirer, but it is evident enough to the candid one that we can 
scarcely get down to the hardpan of materialistic logic in discuss- 
ing such matters, and that we must assume certain premises as 
belonging to psychic inquirers and having a quality of their own, 
apart or distinct from premises adapted to the solution of merely 
physical questions. For myself, I am not ready to accept Dr. 
Raue's view of the subduction of the higher senses in the mes- 
meric state, and the complete dominion of the lower or "vital" 
senses; for it seems to me that the higher or psychic faculties take 



SUGGESTION IN TRANCE PHENOMENA. 

on an activity often in the magnetic trance, which imparts to the 
mental expression of a subject, characteristics of so extraordinary 
a nature and powers so wonderful that to interpret them without 
the co-operation of the higher senses would he impossible. In 
these exalted states of mind, the expression may be almost purely 
psychic, and without the higher senses, how could the manifesta- 
tion assume that character? It may be the players could give 
"Hamlet" without Hamlet, but the audience would be at a loss 
because of the interruptions in the action, and the gaps in the 
dialogue. Dr. Raue, however, says — I will not venture, incon- 
sistently — "One's sense organs are shut off from the influence of 
external simuli" (in the dream state and in its analogue the som- 
nambulic sleep) "and what he sees, hears, so he perceives imme- 
diately by his primitive psychic, and not through his sense or- 
gans." This attitude toward the psychic elements of the human 
soul, I am ready to accept, and to ask how this and the other 
phases of expression in the advanced hypnotic trance are to be 
accepted as but the effects of sugggestion? 

Many times I have been appealed to, by persons of intelli- 
gence, to relieve them from the influence of some other person, 
which had become a burden and hindrance to the prosecution of 
everyday duty. These unfortunates were not soothed by the as- 
surance that their trouble was due only to a delusion, or a sug- 
gestion, which they had incidentally taken up, for they insisted 
that they had been magnetized and, in some way, made subject to 
an influence exerted by another who in some cases they could 
name. If I could interpose a cross or counter influence, they 
were hopeful of escape from the slavery that was making life in- 
tolerable. 

To the average thinker whose brain is unencumbered with 
gleanings from the great mass of speculation on this subject, it 
may seem easy to infer from opinion that has been published 
officially by legal authority, that they who undertake to induce 
hypnosis do something, i. e., exercise a power upon their purposed 
subjects, and are, therefore, responsible, in some degree, for any 
untoward results that may follow. 

Of course, for mere "suggestions" one would not be held re- 
sponsible for a grave offence, although it is now recognized that 



SUGGESTION IN TRANCE PHENOMENA. 

in the everyday life of men, suggestion is a factor of large im- 
portance, affecting the education of the young and the conduct 
and morals of all. It should be admitted, too, that in our later 
study of psychic matters, with the aid of hypnotism, our apprecia- 
tion of the part played by suggestion in mental operations has 
been greatly heightened. 

Forel may say that the muddled views of hypnotism have to 
be replaced by the rational views of sugggestion, i. e., we should 
speak of the "suggested sleep" instead of the "hypnotic sleep." 
I cannot see that he relieves the muddlement by such dogmatic 
statment, for muddlement, if it exist in the phraseology em- 
ployed, is not cleared in this instance by a mere substitution of 
terms. We may be clear enough in elucidating much of the pro- 
cess that goes on in the mind during the activity of the faculties, 
and so be enabled to resolve the greater part of the apparent mys- 
try that clouds the phenomena of the magnetic sleep. This I 
consider to be our position to-day, and that the time is not far 
distant when the curtain will be quite withdrawn so that we may 
peer behind the scenes and, with unprejudiced impressions, glean 
facts of the highest value regarding the central sources of psychic 
functions, meanwhile relegating the phenomena of hypnotism, 
magnetism or whatever else may be the term used to designate 
the state of the subjective or secondary consciousness, to the 
category of natural manifestations. 



MORBID SUBJECTIVE IMPRESSIONS 

AND 

THEIS ERADICATION THROUGH HYPNOTIC SUGGESTION. 

By ALFRED REGINALD ALLEN, M. D. 

There are two classes of cases one meets in neurological prac- 
tice, cases which at times are exceedingly difficult to deal with 
and cause both the family and the physician endless trouble; I 
refer to pavor nocturnis (night terrors) and certain cases of hys- 
teria. For the benefit of the laity, I shall give a brief picture of 
both conditions. 

Pavor nocturnis is characterized by the following symptoms: 
a child of nervous temperament or weak constitution, when in 
bed for the night, starts on his journey from the waking con- 
dition to the state known as sleep; the journey wherein the ob- 
jective consciousness becomes gradually obtunded and effaced in 
oblivion, while that ever watchful sentry, the subjective ego, 
assumes entire control. Somewhere in this journey, more likely 
at the latter part or even after sleep is reached, the child starts 
up in bed with a cry, and is found sitting bolt upright, eyes star- 
ing wide open and every evidence of a visual hallucination of the 
most painful and terrifying kind. He may jump from the bed 
and run through the house in wild fright, at times carrying on 
an inco-ordinate, one-sided conversation. Any attempt to awaken 
or calm the sufferer is usually wasted. After a while, there is 
spontaneous awakening, when it is discovered that the child has 
no recollection of what has taken place. These attacks vary as 
to severity and number. 

It will be noticed that I have specified the child as "of nerv- 
ous temperament or weak constitution." I might say that I have 
seen pavor nocturnis in boys who have led an out door life and 
have had all external signs of robust health; but these are rather 
exceptional. 

103 



MORBID SUBJECTIVE IMPEESSSIONS AND 

The other class of cases I referred to above was of hysteria, 
and I shall now qualify that by limiting it to certain cases pro- 
duced by fright. 

Very frequently a patient will present herself suffering from 
a multitude of hysterical symptoms, globus hystericus, palpita- 
tion, flushes of heat, insomnia, frightful dreams, which are often 
of one particular dream picture, areas of paraesthesia, tenderness 
over mammary and ovarian region, tenderness of scalp, halluci- 
nations of sight and hearing, reversal of color field, diplopia, 
which proves frequently to be monocular, internal strabismus, 
macropsia, and a host of others, too many for tabulation. 

The patient gives a history of fright or mental shock of some 
kind. It may have been in the form of a practical joke in the 
dark, or possibly a ghost story by an indiscreet nurse. The pa- 
tient may or may not ascribe her condition to this cause. She 
may look upon the fright, now well in retrospection, as a very 
insignificant thing, and at times, as you can see from the case 
below, the history of fright will be absolutely forgotten objec- 
tively. 

"Now these two classes (pavor nocturnis and hysteria) seem to 
me to be disorders of the subjective mind. There is never an 
effect without a cause, and I consider the cause in these cases to 
be frequently purely physical. 

What agents are at our disposal in an attempt to cure these 
cases? We can change the mode of life of the patient. Send 
him from the city to the country and put him on the rest treat- 
ment. We can alter an injudicious diet and correct faulty per- 
sonal hygiene. We c m look for some visceral or other reflex dis- 
turbance ; gastritis, g stro-enteritis, torpid liver and the like. We 
can examine the urine and find, as is frequently done, large ex- 
cesses of indican and even, at times, uric acid in aggressive 
amounts, which latter will tempt us to flush out our patient with 
quantities of water between meals. As to drugs, nux vomica, the 
bromides, iodides, and salic.vlates, all come in for their share of 
favor. Some practitioners get excellent effects from thyroid ex- 
tract, or colossal doses of blue mass. You see, from the above, 
that it will be some time before the physician in charge wakes up 

104 



THEIR ERADICATION THROUGH HYPNOTIC SUGGESTION. 

to the uncomfortable discovery that he has tried all indicated 
remedies and failed to produce a cure. 

Very frequently he will so benefit his patient by a careful 
system of therapeutics, massage, electricity, etc., that there may 
be an absolute cessation of all symptoms. But look out for the 
cases that in spite of all the above measures, and more too, yet 
come to your office with sickening regularity and tell you, day 
after day, that they are no better; if anything, a trifle worse. 
Their name is legion, Now hypnotism, properly used, will often 
produce the most happy results in these cases, and is of use from 
a diagnostic as well as a curative standpoint. 

Sometimes through hypnotism, you can discover the psychic- 
al cause, and in other cases you can not. The first case I cite is 
purely hypothetical and composite, and illustrates the discovery 
of cause of symptoms, and cure through hypnotism. The second 
is from my own practice, and is an instance where the psychical 
cause was not apparent but where cure was effected through hyp- 
notic influence. 

Case I. "Woman, 33 years of age. Unmarried. Menstrual 
history negative. No specific trouble. Usual diseases of child- 
hood. Housekeeper. Never used alcohol to excess. No bad 
habits. Presents herself at clinic with following history: every 
night on retiring she has vague feelings of fright and impending 
disaster. After being in bed a half hour or so, and having become 
quite drowsy, she fancies she sees at the foot of her bed a man 
in black with a knife. He walks around to the side of her bed 
and makes ready to strike, at about which time she recovers 
enough strength to scream and throw herself out of bed, away 
from her spectre. This only happens once a night. It began 
about three months ago, at first being once or twice a week, but 
of late having taken place every night. She has lost twenty 
pounds. Her knee jerks are excessive. Her heart is rapid and 
irregular. Digestion poor. Constipated. Cries a great deal, and 
says she will take her life if relief is not forthcoming. 

Now, what is particulary interesting, and what I want you to 
note is that the closest questioning fails to elicit any cause, — 
history of fright or bad dreams. For a time she was put on drugs 



105 



MORBID SUBJECTIVE IMPRESSIONS AND 

for the purpose of producing sedative and tonic effect. But she 
got no better. 

Two weeks after coming to clinic, she was hypnotized, and 
passed easily into deep somnambulism, in which she gave a story 
much at variance with the one she had given in objective con- 
sciousness. She said, under hypnosis, that five or six months ago 
while going out to the woodshed, she unexpectedly came upon a 
tramp loitering about. She was greatly startled but regained 
her equanimity again, and thought no more of it. Several nights 
after this occurrence, she had dreamed that a man in black had 
come into her room for the purpose of murdering her. (This 
dream, as such, you will see from what has gone before, was never 
perceived by the objective consciousness.) This dream she said 
was repeated quite frequently. When awakened the patient does 
not remember anything she has said, and upon questioning give-} 
the same history she did in the first place. 

Her subjective dream was repeated until so strong an impres- 
sion was produced that an hallucination occurred. The patient, 
after being deeply hypnotized, was told that she had mistaken 
the thing in the man's hand. It was not a dagger, but a roll of 
dark-colored paper. This suggestion was enforced most strongly 
and, after awakening, the patient told to return in two days. At 
the next experiment she was told that he really had no intention 
of killing her, but on the other hand was rather amicably dis- 
posed toward her. 

At the next experiment she was told that what she had sup- 
posed to be a man was in reality a dark shadow and not a man at 
all, and that it would cause her no alarm. During the several 
sittings following, it was strongly suggested that this shadow was 
disappearing, and, at length, that it had entirely disappeared and 
would not return. Further^ she was told she would not be dis- 
turbed by dreams but would get her full amount of sleep, peace- 
fully. 

This woman was cured. For safety she was hypnotized once 
a month for a number of months in order to renew the sugges- 
tion. 

Case II. "Woman. Age 40. Single. Nervous temperament. 
Usual diseases of childhood. ~No venereal history acquired or 

106 



THEIR ERADICATION THROUGH HYPNOTIC SUGGESTION. 

hereditary. Menstrual history negative. Great trouble and 
worry nursing sick sister. This followed by condition of neuras- 
thenia with persistent insomnia. Great loss of weight. 

Periodically she gets an idea that she has touched some object 
(a book, table, etc.) which has been touched by someone's hand 
which has held the Holy Sacrament. She will then be thrown 
into a state of mental agony, and begins washing her hands over 
and over again, for hours at a time, weeping the while. 

I hypnotized her for two weeks, before attempting to assail 
her religious delusions. She was very easily hypnotized, and I 
took this means of making her sleep from nine or ten o'clock at 
night until breakfast time next morning, when, I told her, the 
nurse would awaken her. Her improvement was wonderful. A 
few experiments directed against the hand-washing trouble were 
sufficient to totally eradicate that suggestion. 

Now, what is necessary to success in giving suggestions dur- 
ing hypnosis? Tact. Tactfulness is the rock on which most 
unsuccessful operators split. If, in dealing with Case I, you had 
said the first time you had hypnotized her, "There is no man at 
all in your room, no dagger, no black cloak," etc., etc., in all prob- 
ability she would have fought against so radical a change, with 
all her power. The rule, that it is easier to produce an illusion 
than an hallucination, in a way applies here. That is to say, it 
is easier to change the nature of what already exists in the mind 
than to eradicate it altogether. I do not say that it is always im- 
possible to produce at the first trial so radical a change, because 
anyone who has done much work in hypnotism has many in- 
stances to the contrary. But I do say there are many cases of 
failure because of too much haste, and had the inexperienced 
operator built his foundation of suggestion slowly, gradually, and 
with tact, he would have had success to take the place of failure. 

In dealing with children, who are subject to night terrors, it 
is well to put them into the somnambulistic state, where there is 
perfect amnesia, and question them quietly and with confidence. 
Do not jump at a conclusion too soon. If the child says at first, 
that he has experienced no fright or ghost story, do not form the 
conviction that the cause is not to be found by that means. 
Rather take the child back tactfully, get him to tell about the 

107 



/ 



MORBID SUBJECTIVE IMPRESSIONS. 

companions lie lias had in the past, and what their methods of 
keeping him amused have been. Do not necessarily think that 
this has all to be accomplished at one sitting. It is a great mis- 
take to tire a subject, particularly is this so where a child is 
concerned. 

Also remember that the novelist's idea of the perfect ve- 
racity in hypnotism under all conditions, is absolutely fallacious. 
Experience has proved that a subject may become the most 
adroit liar when hypnotized, and throw all manner of obstacles, 
in the shape of misstatements, in the operator's way. This is par- 
ticular^ true when the subject gets the idea that he is thrown on 
his oaaui resources for self -preservation." 

The attributes of a successful operator are, a good forcible use 
of the English language (providing the subject speaks English), a 
voice capable of modulation, as well as clearly enunciated mono- 
tone, a belief in his own ability, and lastly, an abundance of tact, 
L without which last, no one will rise to any degree of success. 



ic8 



SUGGESTIVE THERAPEUTICS. 

By THOS. F. ADKIN, Dean, New York Institute of Physicians and 
Surgeons. 

It is a well known fact among physicians and those who have 
had any practical experience with hypnotism, that all diseases 
can be greatly benefited or cured by suggestion or suggestive 
therapeutics. When the subject is in the hypnotic condition, 
his mind is ready to receive, as a fact, any suggestion that the 
operator desires to give, provided it is not against the natural 
desire or tendency of the subject. When one is ill his whole 
desire is to get well, therefore, sick people are more susceptible to 
suggestion than any other class, because they unconsciously con- 
centrate their minds upon relief, then when reinforced by the 
suggestions of the operator, they respond readily to his efforts. 

Space will not permit any lengthy article upon this subject, 
and as I have been requested to devote my space to practical 
instruction, I shall endeavor to observe this request, and shall 
give the details for treating various diseases. 

All diseases are treated in the same manner by suggestive 
therapeutics. First put the subject to sleep, or try to put him. 
to sleep, but whether you get him to sleep or not, commence with 
the first treatment and give him suggestions for the cure. To 
give the student the proper idea, I shall give the details for treat- 
ing a few common diseases. The same rules may be applied, 
with variations, to any case that may arise. 

Headache: Try to put the patient to sleep by any of the 
methods given in this work. Then say to him, "Now, when you 
open your eyes, or when you awake, all this trouble in your head 
will leave you. Every time I treat you, you will positively feel 
better. All pain is going — you will have no more pain — : you will 
feel splendidly when I av/aken you." Repeat these suggestions 
several times, then awaken the patient. 

Rheumatism: If in the arm, try to put the patient to 
sleep and say to him, "'No'w, when I awaken you, or when you 
open your eyes, all this pain will leave you — it is all going — 
every time I treat you, you will positively feel better — you will 

109 



SUGGESTIVE THERAPEUTICS. 

notice a great change in your condition as soon as you open your 
eyes — you are positively feeling better." 

If the rheumatism is in the knee, tell the patient, "All this 
pain in your knee is leaving you." If any other part of the 
body, treat in the same way, referring specifically to the location. 
This rule applies to every other disease. 

Heart Disease: Put the patient to sleep and say to 
him, "Now, when I tell you to open your eyes, all this trouble 
in your heart will leave you. Each day I treat you, you will posi- 
tively feel better. Your heart beats normally; it pulsates na- 
turally. Each day I treat you, you will continue to improve. 
You are feeling better, you will feel better from this hour on." 

Paralysis: Put the patient to sleep and say to him, 
"Now, when I tell you to awaken or open your eyes, you will 
feel stronger. All of this paralytic condition will pass away. 
Your muscles will become stronger. You will feel better each 
day. Your whole body feels relieved. You will continue to 
improve from this hour on." Then awaken the patient. 

The patient, when being treated by suggestive therapeu- 
tics, should receive suggestions for ten or fifteen minutes at each 
treatment. He should be treated once each day until relieved. 
It is not absolutely necessary to adhere strictly to the suggestions 
that I have given. Any other suggestions that the operator can 
think of along similar lines, will answer just as well. 

Stomach Trouble: Put the patient to sleep and say 
to him, "Now, when I tell you to open your eyes or wake up, 
this trouble in your stomach will leave you. Y.ou will feel splen- 
didly in every way. Each day you will positively feel better. 
You are growing stronger daily, and all this diseased condition 
will soon pass away. You will feel better from this hour on." 
Then awaken the patient. 

Pains in the Back: Put the patient to sleep and say 
to him, "When I awaken you, all this trouble in your back 
will leave you. You will grow stronger each day. You will have 
no pain whatever, when I awaken you. It is all leaving you. 
You will feel splendidly. Each day I treat you, you will notice 
a great change in your condition. You are positively feeling 
better." 



SUGGESTIVE THERAPEUTICS. 

Surgery: Put the patient to sleep and direct your sug- 
gestions to that part of the body that you wish to operate upon. 
For instance, if you wish to amputate a hand at the wrist, you 
would say to the patient, "Now, all sensation in your arm is leav- 
ing- it. Your arm is becoming perfectly numb. You cannot feel 
any pain whatever. All sensation is leaving your arm. It is per- 
fectly numb. You cannot feel anything. When I prick your 
arm with this needle, you will not feel it. You cannot feel any 
sensation in your arm whatever/ 7 Repeat these suggestions sev- 
eral times and then prick the arm slightly. If the patient does 
not feel it, prick it harder until you are thoroughly convinced 
that the arm is in an anaesthetic condition; then perform the 
operation. After the operation has been performed, say to the 
patient, "Now, when you open your eyes and wake up, you will 
feel no soreness. This operation will affect you in no way. There 
is no shock of any kind. It will have no effect upon your sys- 
tem whatever. You will soon be well. You will feel splendidly. 
You will feel no pain whatever." This prevents pain after the 
operation. The suggestions for all surgical operations are given 
in the same way. 

SUGGESTIVE THERAPEUTICS IN DENTISTRY. 

There are two ways of producing the desired results. The 
first one is as follows: Have the patient seated in a chair and 
put him to sleep by any of the methods given. Then say to him, 
"Now, all of this sensation in your jaw is leaving you. You can- 
not feel anything. The nerve in this tooth is paralyzed. There 
is no sensation in it whatever. When I work on your tooth there 
will be no pain. You will not be nervous in any way. It will 
not hurt you a particle. All sensation in this side of your face is 
gone. You cannot feel anything." Then the dentist should try 
the tooth and see if the anaesthetic effect has been produced; if 
not, repeat the suggestions until it has been. 

The second plan is to operate upon the patient without the 
patient's knowledge. Have him seated in a chair, look intently 
at him and say, "Mr. Jones, I have a specific here for deadening 
sensation. It is a French preparation." (Have some pungent 
liquid in a bottle so that he can see it.) "It is a very powerful 



SUGGESTIVE THERAPEUTICS. 

remedy and will absolutely destroy all sensation. It will have no 
effect upon your system in any way. It will not make you nerv- 
ous. It is comparatively new in this country. It is meeting with 
wonderful success abroad and my success with it has been noth- 
ing short of marvelous. I wish that you would close your eyes, 
because if you should get any of it in them, it will make them 
smart terribly. Keep them closed until I tell you to open them. 
Do not open your eyes until I give you permission." Let him 
see you attempt to remove the cork, and as you do this hold the 
bottle away as though you were afraid of getting it in your own 
eyes. Tell him to open his mouth. Put a little of the liquid on 
your finger and rub it on the gums and on the side of the face. 
This gives you an opportunity to make passes over him. Con- 
tinue the passes and tell him that in a short time he will find 
that all sensation is leaving that part of the jaw. It is often a 
good plan to inject a little of the liquid with a hypodermic 
syringe. You might use a mild solution of cocaine, if you do 
not think the subject is inclined to be susceptible to suggestion, 
but in most cases it is not necessary and the patient is much 
better without it. You should keep talking to the patient all 
the time, telling him the wonderful success this remedy has had 
in that part of the country where it has been used. Then take 
the forceps (if you are going to extract a tooth) and put it in his 
mouth, but do not, under any circumstances, touch the tooth. 
Have the first finger of your right hand, which holds the forceps, 
resting on the lower part of the patient's jaw, with the forceps 
inside, and press determinedly, as though you were pressing 
down on the tooth. At the same time^ breathe forcibly as though 
you were exerting a strong effort to push the forceps down on the 
tooth, and ask him if he feels it. Some patients will say, "yes," 
even though you are not touching the tooth. In this case, tell 
the patient the pain will soon pass away. In the majority of 
cases, they will say "no." Just the moment you have made this 
exertion ask him if it hurts, and if he says "no," then you should 
say, ""Well, it will soon be anaesthetized and you will not feel any 
sensation whatever." Try him two or three times without touch- 
ing the tooth and ask him again if it hurts, and go through with 
the same formula as given above. Then, without changing the 



SUGGESTIVE THERAPEUTICS. 

position of the body, place the forceps on the tooth and extract it. 
In nine cases out of ten the patient will not know that the tooth 
is out. 

This is practically controlling the patient in his waking state. 
He will, of course, attribute the effect to the remedy. This 
method can be used by dentists more than any other, for the 
reason that it takes only a short time to do it, and the patient will 
not know you use suggestion. With other methods, it would be 
necessary first to hypnotize the patient. Many dentists have 
often injected water into the gums and produced an anaesthetic 
effect. This, of course, is largely on the same principle as given 
above. 

Pernicious Habits: 'All habits are treated the same way, 
except that you use specific suggestions bearing upon each 
particular habit. That the student may get the proper idea, I 
will give specific instructions for treating a few habits. 

Tobacco Habit in all Forms: Try to put your pa- 
tient to sleep, and whether you get him to sleep or not, sug- 
gest to him as follows: "Now, when you open your eyes, or when 
you wake up, you will find that your desire for tobacco is leaving 
you. It will not affect your system in any way. You will not 
crave it. All craving will have disappeared. The smell of to- 
bacco will make you deathly sick. If you attempt to use it, in 
any form, it will make you vomit. Your system does not require 
this stimulant. You will not allow any one to persuade you to 
use it. The desire is all leaving you. You will not require it 
any more." Repeat these suggestions several times. To cure 
this habit usually requires but one sitting, if the subject is in a 
deep sleep, but in the waking state, more treatments will be re- 
quired to break the habit. Treatments should be given daily. 

I have cured mam^ cases of tobacco habit while the patient 
was in the waking state, in two or three treatments. It rarely 
requires more than one treatment, if he is in a complete state of 
hypnosis. The same rule applies to other habits. You can cure 
a patient of chewing tobacco and still allow him to smoke ; you 
can cure him of smoking a pipe and still allow him to smoke a 
cigar or cigarette; you can cure him of smoking cigarettes and 
still allow him to smoke a pipe or a cigar and chew tobacco. I 

"3 



SUGGESTIVE THERAPEUTICS. 

mention this so that the operator will understand that he should 
find out beforehand what habit the patient desires to have cured. 

Mobphine Habit: Put the patient to sleep if possible, 
but whether you get him to sleep or not, suggest as follows: 
"Each day from now on, you will require less morphine. It will 
become repugnant to you. Your system does not require it. 
Each day you will positively take less. It will not affect your 
system in any way. You will not be nervous. You will use your 
whole will force to fight against it. You will not give up to it. 
All desire is positively leaving you. You will not crave it any 
more." Repeat these suggestions ten or fifteen times, then 
awaken the patient. 

In treating any drug habit, it is a good plan to make an 
agreement with the patient, that when he takes the drug he will 
do so only in your presence. Try to arrange so that he will do 
this. Make him promise upon his word of honor that he will not 
take it except in your presence. Gain the confidence of the 
patient, for you will not make a successful operator until you do 
this. Make him think that .you have his interest at heart, that 
you are especially interested in this form of habit, and that you 
want him to aid you in every way possible. Then, when he 
comes to you to take the drug, give it to him and see that each 
time he receives less. Tell him not to come to you until he feels 
that he must have it and that when he comes you will be glad to 
give it to him. You should not break off the morphine, opium 
or drug habit and severe cases of liquor habit too abruptly. You 
should gradually diminish the quantity taken; otherwise a severe 
shock to the nervous system may occur. All drug habits are 
treated the same as the morphine habit. 

The liquor habit is treated as follows: Take charge of the 
patient at a time when he has not been drinking heavily. It is 
very difficult to accomplish anything with him while he is under 
the influence of liquor. If he has had only a few drinks, it will 
make little difference. Try to put him to sleep, but whether you 
get him to sleep or not, suggest as follows : "All this desire for 
liquor is leaving you. Every time I treat you, you will require 
less. You are becoming perfectly disgusted with it. It will ruin 
your system and destroy your happiness and the happiness of 

114 



SUGGESTIVE THERAPEUTICS. 

your friends. Your system does not require this stimulant any 
more. From to-day you will exert your whole will force against 
it and be a man. I will help you and I want you, if you feel 
compelled to take a drink, to come to me and I will give it to 
you. You will feel better every day. You will feel stronger 
mentally and physically. You will not crave it any more. All 
desire is leaving you. The very sight of liquor will make you 
sick." Then awaken the patient. Habits of all kinds should be 
treated daily. The student should remember that every habit 
can be cured by suggestion. No matter how trifling or how 
great, the same principles may be applied to any habit. 

You should first practice giving these suggestions in a room 
by yourself, in the treatment of an imaginary subject. When I 
first learned to hypnotize, I practiced giving suggestions and 
making passes over a chair in my room, until I was satisfied that 
T could give the suggestions and make the passes without any 
hesitation. Make your subject or patient think, by every word 
and action, that you know your business thoroughly. Kemember 
that if you make a dozen mistakes he will not know it; proceed 
as though you had not made an error. Confidence is a necessary 
pre-requisite to success. 

Auto-Hypnosis: By auto-hypnosis one can cure himself 
of disease, improve his memory, cure himself of bad habits, 
and derive all the benefits himself that he can confer upon others 
by treating them under hypnosis. To do this, lie down and relax 
your muscles, at a certain time during the day when you are in a 
quiet or receptive state of mind. Place some bright object in 
such a position that it will cause you to roll your eyes upward a 
little in order to see it, causing a slight strain of the optic nerve. 
All the time you are looking at the object, concentrate your mind 
as follows: "I am so sleepy — I am so drowsy — I am positively 
feeling drowsy — my eyes are becoming heavy — they will soon 
close — I am going fast asleep — fast asleep." Repeat these sug- 
gestions mentally and when you begin to feel drowsy, you can 
give yourself suggestions for the cure of any disease or the eradi- 
cation of any habit as follows: "Now, when I awaken, I will do 
(thinking intently of what you desire to do;) or I will feel better 
or relieved or free from some pain or annoyance." If you are 

"5 



V 



SUGGESTIVE THERAPEUTICS. 

sick you would say, "E"ow, when I awaken I will feel better. 
Each day I will positively improve. Each day from now on, I 
will notice a great change in my condition. I am feeling better 
every day. I will soon be well." If you wish to improve your 
memory, as you fall asleep you should say to yourself, "Now, 
when I awaken, I will find my memory improved. Each day my 
memory will improve. It will continue to improve daily. I will 
concentrate my mind better. I can retain everything I read. My 
memory is positively improving." This same method may be 
applied to bring about any change desired. 

To awaken yourself from auto-hypnosis, you should, when 
going to sleep, determinedly will: "I will sleep ten minutes, 
thirty minutes or one hour, and then awaken." A person who 
goes to sleep thinking of a certain hour at which he wishes to 
awaken will invariably awaken at the time, or within a few 
minutes of it. This is auto-suggestion. If you do not go into a 
sound sleep, after you get yourself in a drowsy condition, you 
can give yourself suggestions for the cure of any disease or habit. 
The suggestions will be effective, although it will take you longer 
to bring about the desired changes. Remember, it is not neces- 
sary to place Yourself in a deep sleep in order to effect a cure. 



HYPNOTISM AS AN AID IN MEDICINE. 

By G. S. LINCOLN, M. D. 

1 am convinced that the time is fast approaching when physi- 
cians will place as much confidence in hypnotic suggestion as in 
medicine, if not more. 

The changes that have taken place in the practice of medi- 
cine are numerous. Medicine never has been an exact science, 
nor indeed anything approaching such a state. Hypnotic sug- 
gestion is rapidly transforming it into an exact science, and the 
time is not far distant when there will be as much certainty in 
the healing art as there is in the science of mechanics. Had the 
medical profession been progressive, it would have carefully and 
thoroughly investigated hypnotism, mesmerism, mind cure, and 
Christian Science, long ago. 

In this article, I cannot enter into any extended discussion 
of the subject. I shall, however, give a working outline that 
will enable any one of average intelligence to investigate all the 
kindred and related facts. 

Every human being is composed of matter and force. The 
matter is organized; so are the forces. I will not discuss whether 
the matter causes the forces to act, or whether the forces form the 
matter into living organisms. I will leave that to the theologians 
and mystics. 

To be in perfect health a person must have healthy organs 
and pure forces operating on them. Anything that vitiates 
these forces, or changes the proportions of the chemical constitu- 
ents of the matter forming the organs, will produce a diseased 
condition. Disease, then, may be either a change in the forces 
or in the material make up. Such being the case, a cure can be 
effected by readjusting the forces or by restoring the natural 
equilibrium of the chemical parts. It, therefore, follows that a 
derangement of either may produce a bad condition of both. 
The mind and the body act upon each other. 

A diseased condition of the body, caused by a chemical 
change in the material of the body, ought to be cured by supply- 
ing a drug that restores the balance, or a drug that acts on the 

117 



HYPNOTISM AS AN AID IN MEDICINE. 

vital forces and causes them, by increased action, to replace the 
lost material. I have been of the opinion that all, or nearly all 
drugs act in this manner. 

Such being the case, it follows that the vital healing force 
is in the patient's system, and that drugs at the best only set it in 
operation. Vital force is produced by digestion, and the inhala- 
tion of air loaded with oxygen. The amount of such vital force 
is regulated by the capacity of the lungs, and the quantity and 
quality of the food. In many diseases this force can be influ- 
enced more powerfully by hypnotic suggestion than by drugs. 
Of course the whims of the patient must be taken into considera- 
tion, as his auto-suggestions will have a powerful influence on the 
case. If he believes in medicines he should have them, even if 
only bread pills. 

A London hospital physician tried the following experiment 
on his typhoid patients: He gave them all the same care and 
nursing. To one class he gave the medical treatment; the second 
class he gave only colored water; to the third class he gave no 
medicine at all. The result is not very flattering to medical 
treatment, for the least number died in the class that got only 
colored water. This shows that the idea that they are being 
treated cured more than were cured where they actually received 
medicine. Of course, medicinal treatment has been vastly im- 
proved since then; so also has hypnotic suggestion. Were the 
same experiment tried to-day, I believe those who received the 
colored water and suggestion would show a larger percentage of 
cures than those who received the medicine without the sugges- 
tion. All doctors use suggestion when they tell the patient how 
the medicine will act, and when they give their positive assur- 
ance that they can cure the disease. They may not know that 
this is suggestion, but it is, and without it their practice would be 
a long experience of failures. A patient who has confidence in 
a doctor of only poor attainments and but little experience, will 
derive more benefit from his treatment than from that of an 
educated skilled specialist in whom he has no confidence. 

Hypnotic suggestion, then, stands easily at the head as an aid 
in medicine. It helps to inspire confidence. It helps to culti- 

.18 



HYPNOTISM AS AN AID IN MEDICINE. 

vate and liberate the vital forces so that they cure the diseased 
conditions. It plays a more important part than medicines. It 
is never poisonous or harmful and can always be used, even if 
bread pills are used to disguise its administration. Such sugges- 
tion is given in the normal state. Where the patient will submit 
to hypnotic treatment, suggestion may take the place of all med- 
icine, and in many cases supplants even the knife. A case, unless 
surgical, that cannot be cured by suggestion in the hypnotic 
state, is hopeless. 

Thoughts are mental impulses that have a definite effect on 
the body; either good or bad, according to the thought. Sug- 
gestion intensifies these impulses and increases the effects. 

"No progressive physician can afford longer to delay the 
study of the effects of suggestion. He must use suggestion, 
either consciously or unconsciously, and ought to know how to 
use it to the best advantage, that he may have at his command 
one of the most powerful curative agents known. Suggestions 
in the waking state are rapidly becoming more certain in their 
curative effects than drugs. The sick wish to be cured; and he 
who can cure them by means that will not leave any bad after 
effects, as many drugs do, is a public benefactor. 

Contemplate a person who has been salivated or made ner- 
vous by quinine. Had he been cured by suggestion, there would 
have been no evil after effects. Use it all the time. Be confi- 
dent. Act confidently. Talk with confidence and try to in- 
spire confidence in those whom you wish to heal. Learn the 
best methods of giving suggestion in both the waking and the 
hypnotic states, and you have learned something of more value 
than a course at a medical college. Other writers have covered 
this field very fully. Let each one who reads this do something 
toward helping along the true aid to medicine: — suggestion. 



1.9 



HOW TO HYPNOTIZE DIFFICULT SUBJECTS. 

By L». B. HAWLET, M. D., New York Polyclinic College. 

The method which I shall give for hypnotizing difficult sub- 
jects should be used only by physicians or those who understand 
the effects of chloroform or ether. I have found it very effica- 
cious and have been able to hypnotize quickly many subjects 
upon whom I had previously worked for weeks in an effort to 
23ut them under its influence by other methods. 

You should have the subject lying -down on a couch or bed 
or in a physician's chair. Tell the subject to close his eyes and 
think determinedly of sleep. Give him suggestions for fifteen 
minutes as follows: "You are becoming drowsy — everything is 
getting dark to you — you are so sleepy — your eyelids feel heavy 
— you are breathing deeply — you are breathing heavily — every- 
thing is becoming hazy and misty — you hear no sound but my 
voice — a numbness creeps over you — nothing will disturb you — 
you are sound asleep — when I count twenty, you will be sound 
asleep." Then count slowly from one to twenty. 

"While giving these suggestions, stand facing the top part of 
the subject's head and make passes with both hands, commencing 
with the three fingers of each hand in the center of the forehead, 
passing over the temples leaving the subject's face at the cheek- 
bones. Eepeat these passes slowly and lightly during the time 
the suggestions ?re being given. You should have a bottle of 
chloroform and a handkerchief handy so that you can get it 
quickly. After making the passes and giving the suggestions, 
sprinkle a little chloroform on the handkerchief and hold it so 
the subject will inhale the vapor. As he is doing this, say to 
him, "You can smell chloroform — it is making you sleepy and 
drowsy — you are becoming sleepy — you are breathing heavier — 
you cannot resist its effects — ft'-will soon put you asleep — it will 
have no bad effect upon your( system in any way — you will not 
"be sick at your stomach in the least—after you awaken you will 
feel splendidly.' ' Eepeat these suggestions until the subject be- 
comes unconscious. 



HOW TO HYPNOTIZE DIFFICULT SUBJECTS. 

Another plan I have often nsed with good success is to 
sprinkle a little alcohol or anything else with a pungent odor on 
a handkerchief and impress upon the subject's mind before 
attempting to- put him to sleep that it is a special preparation 
composed principally of chloroform. Give him the same sug- 
gestions you would were you using chloroform. In giving the 
suggestions, it should be called chloroform, as it will have a 
much stronger mental effect. By using the latter method, it will 
prevent any possible chance of sickness, which often follows the 
use of chloroform. Keep suggesting, "You will not feel sick 
after you awaken.' 7 This method will have a much stronger 
effect than if chloroform or ether were really used, without the 
suggestions. I advise every physician in placing anyone under 
the influence of an anaesthetic to give suggestions of sleep, tell- 
ing the patient to be oprated upon that he is getting drowsy; he 
is so sleepy; he must breathe deeply and concentrate his mind 
upon sleep; that if he will, no sickness will follow. Less anaes- 
thetic is then required. You should continue giving the sleep 
suggestions until the patient is thoroughly under the influence 
of the anaesthetic. In surgical cases, I have had splendid success 
where I have followed this plan, and I beg to state for the satis- 
faction of those who have not yet a practical knowledge of the 
subject that I have seen no bad consequences whatever, arise 
from persons being operated on when in the hypnotic sleep. 
Cases have occurred in which no pain has been felt subsequent 
to the operation even ; the wounds healing in a few days by the 
first intention; and in the rest, I have seen no indications of any 
injury done to the constitution. On the contrary, it appears to 
me to have been saved, and that less constitutional disturbance 
has followed than under ordinary circumstances. 

There has not been a death among the cases operated on. If 
the sleep is not profound the first time, the surgeon may safely 
calculate upon its being deeper the next, and it will be prudent 
to take the security of one or two preliminary hypnotizations. 
The flexibility of the limbs till moved and their remaining in 
any position they may be placed in, are characteristic of the hyp- 
notic condition; but there are exceptions and these are 
equally diagnostic and to be depended upon. It sometimes hap- 



HOW TO HYPNOTIZE DIFFICULT SUBJECTS. 

pens that the limbs become rigid as they lie and on bending* 
them they have always a disposition to return to a state of spas- 
modic extention. At other times there is complete relaxation of 
the whole muscular system, and the limbs can be tossed about 
like the limbs of a person just dead. 

Whenever a physician finds it necessary to use an anaesthetic 
of any kind, if he will give the proper suggestions to produce the 
effect desired in addition to the anaesthetic, he will get much 
less reaction or shock than is usually the case. I would advise 
every practitioner of medicine to make a careful study of sug- 
gestion, apply it as directed, and use it in connection with med- 
ical and surgical treatment. I have made a careful study of the 
teaching and system of the celebrated French operator, Char- 
pentier, who claims that any one can be hypnotized quickly by 
these methods, and believe that the results obtained in many 
cases will be marvelous to a great degree. 



HYPNOTIC CURE FOR HICCOUGHS. 

By J. C. HERBERT. 

Stand in front of the patient and look steadily between his 
eyes. Ask the patient to raise his right hand as high as possible 
until it becomes a slight strain. Make him maintain this attitude 
for one minute. Then ask him to close his eyes. Make three 
passes across the throat in a slightly downward direction. This 
will cure the worst case of hiccoughs. 



PERSONAL MAGNETISM. 

By CHARLES S. CLARK, M. A. 

Personal magnetism is personal trust, — it is an intangible 
something that creates confidence, — it is the power of personal- 
ity. Some call it personal atmosphere; some do not call it any- 
thing, for they are not discerning enough to mark its presence. 
They pay a tribute to its existence, nevertheless, by following 
those who possess it, — by permitting themselves to be swayed 
and influenced by the men and women- of magnetic personalities. 

Personal magnetism does not depend, primarily, upon per- 
sonal appearance. A fine physique, a commanding presence may ' 
contribute to'it, but they are only incidental. There is no human 
form too frail, no human form too grotesque, no human face too 
homely, to harbor personal magnetism. It is something beyond 
and better than personal appearance, to which it bears the rela- 
tion that thought bears to words. Elegant language that does 
not express thought is in no sense to be compared with even 
dialect that is pregnant with meaning and expression. Beautiful 
thoughts expressed in beautiful language are the highest ideal, 
but thought rises superior to the medium of expression, which, 
after all, is only secondary. 

So with personal magnetism. The man or woman of com- 
manding presence and superior beauty or comeliness, possesses, 
by nature some of the attributes of marked personality. But 
without personal magnetism, such a person is like a lithographic 
reproduction of a beautiful face — it lacks life. Health, physique, i 
beauty, comeliness, though a person has all these and lacks per- ] 
sonal magnetism he is as sounding brass and a tinkling cymbal. 
Personal magnetism is the real expression of unselfish self, — it 
is the ego, — it is what remains when all personal charms have 
been subtracted, all tangible accomplishments have been elimi- 
nated. 

History abounds with striking examples of men and women 
otherwise insignificant who, through force of character, will- 
power, magnetism, ability to control others, have stood foremost 

123 



PERSONAL MAGNETISM. 

in the eyes of the world. Napoleon, slight in stature, lacking 
a commanding presence, born poor and without opportunity, 
forced himself upon the world and made it subservient to him by 
the exercise of qualities that could not be denned. Madam De 
Stael, the least attractive of women, by her charming personality 
made the world do her homage and caused Napoleon to exile her. 
His beautiful and wealthy courtiers he tolerated and pitied, — 
they lacked that personality that made them dangerous, — but 
the magnetic, though otherwise insignificant, Madame De Stael 
he hated and feared as he never feared another. 

Personal magnetism in its perfection is not a heritage. It 
does not descend from father to son or from mother to daughter. 
True, it bears a more abundant fruitage in some natures than in 
others, like unto wheat sowed upon different grades of soil. But 
where there is intelligence in any human being there is latent 
personal magnetism. It may be fanned into a bright glow or 
it may be permitted to lie dormant, unused, inactive, wasted. 

The objects of this article are twofold; first, to arouse the 
reader to the fact that he has personal magnetism if he will but 
cultivate it; second, to give some specific instructions in regard 
to its development. 

Personal magnetism is more valuable than pecuniary wealth, 
for it is not taxable and it is not subject to sheriff's sales. It is 
more abiding than fame, for it cannot be swept away in an in- 
stant. It is more enduring than honor, for it carries within itself 
the very germ of all these. That it is worthy of any one's serious 
attention need not be iterated; that true success without it cannot 
be attained in any profession or calling, vocation or avocation, 
cannot be gainsaid. "With it, all things are possible; without it, 
nothing is perfect. It is at once the steppingstone and the frui- 
tion of happiness; the exponent and the expression of power; a 
component part and the ultimate of success. 

Those who would cultivate personal magnetism must bear 
in mind four things: First, it will not grow spontaneously. It 
is the result of careful, painstaking, plodding, faithful effort. 
Second, as a condition precedent, he who would cultivate it must 
beget a confidence in himself. Third, it is never an active force 

124 



PERSONAL MAGNETISM. 

in the lives of vacillating, inactive, lackadaisical people. Fourth, 
it is not dependent upon station in life, comeliness of personality 
or education, in the general acceptance of this term. 

To cultivate personal magnetism cultivate self-confidence. 
There is a difference between self-confidence and egotism, — a dif- 
ference so vast that there is no analogy between them. To be 
self-confident is to believe in your own ability; to be egotistical 
is to vaunt an imaginary ability. The one is a virtue, the other 
is a vice; the one helps to success, the other hinders. The one 
attracts people and begets confidence; the other repels people 
and fosters their detestation. If you would cultivate your per- 
sonal magnetism, cultivate self-confidence. You can do this by 
auto-suggestion. Begin by resolving to accomplish whatever you 
concentrate your mind upon. Do not contemplate failure; think 
only of succeeding, even in the most trivial things. There is no 
deed so trifling that it does not hold the germ of success. Suc- 
ceed in its accomplishment, and you grow stronger ; fail and your 
energies diminish. So it is with thoughts. Every thought sub- 
tracts itself from your potential ability, or adds itself to your pos- 
sibilities of achievement. "As a man thinketh, so is he," — the 
contemplation of failure invites it; thoughts of success, lend 
wings to its accomplishment. Then, let us reiterate, "Think only 
of success; do not contemplate failure." Have courage to dare; 
foster confidence that you shall be able to do. 

It is in your power to give yourself stronger suggestions than 
can be implanted in your mind by any extraneous force. Your 
own suggestions, your innate courage, your cultivated determina- 
tion, can overcome every obstacle and conquer every foe, but 
to attain this object you must think about yourself. You must 
turn your eyes inward, — you must discover your weak places 
and fortify them. No man ever won an athletic contest who 
trusted to luck and made no effort to train. Preparation for such 
a contest requires painstaking effort. How much more must he 
who would win in a mental contest train his mind for the ordeal ? 
Athletes appreciate the value of physical training; brain work- 
ers appreciate the value of mental training, of thinking before 
acting. If you would become either, you must follow the meth- 
ods of both. 

125 



PERSONAL MAGNETISM. 

Cultivafe decision of character. Learn to say things with 
promptness^ and with a calm determination that leaves no room 
for doubt in regard to your sincerity. Do not vacillate. No va- 
cillating leader very long retains his following. Decide, if you 
err. Better an error with promptness and positive action, than 
indecision that allows opportunity to escape. 'No man can ever 
be right all the time and succeed. A man who never makes an 
error is too deliberate to march in the front ranks of the leaders 
of men. Vacillation militates against leadership; decision nur- 
tures it. Procrastination is the death knell of opportunity; 
promptness is the corner stone of confidence; it is the capital of 
hope, the treasury of trust ; it keeps opportunity dodging to escape 
its grasp. "Whom would you follow with the greatest confidence, 
him who decides without delay and executes without misgivings, 
or him who vacillates, hesitates, procrastinates, defers? The 
question is absurd; there can be but one' answer to it. 

Personal magnetism cannot be located on the map of human 
destiny. Some men carry it in their mien; some express it in 
their gestures; some disclose it in articulation, accent, intonation; 
some give it full expression in all these, without emphasizing it 
in any one. 

There is magnetism in the human voice ; how much, must be 
determined by him who uses it. There is no excuse for a voice 
that does not express it, except to plead neglectful indolence, — 
criminal inattention. Sound lungs may be an accident of birth, 
but a good voice is an acquisition. Did you ever listen to your- 
self talk? Do so; it will interest you. Mark your defects of 
articulation, of intonation, of accent. Strange that you should 
talk in your own presence every hour of every day of every week 
that you live, yet never listen to your own voice. 

A good voice, like correct breathing, may be acquired. ~Ko 
other Fuman possession equals it in influencing others. Imagine 
trying to f ollow heroically a man who has a weak, piping voice or 
one whose articulation is indistinct, effeminate, emasculated. 
Think of the ecstatic thrill caused by listening to the masculine, 
rancous utterances of some woman whom you know ! How often 
| do you see a person who possesses all that is necessary to make 
him magnetic, save a voice? But, you will say, if a person is 

126 



PERSONAL MAGNETISM. 

naturally endowed with such a voice, how can you criticize him? 
Permit us to answer that your voice is what you make it; that 
it is susceptible of cultivation ; that a good voice may be acquired 
by any one who will turn his attention to it and devote the time 
necessary to acquire it. Cultivate your personal magnetism in all 
things else, but neglect to cultivate your voice^ and it is like 
turning a wolf into a flock of sheep. 

There is character in the human voice. It is an accurate 
index to the man. It limns his past deeds, portrays his present 
thought, and circumscribes his destiny. ~No man who talks inco- 
herently, thinks clearly. The action of his mental machinery 
may be judged by his articulation. Clear, incisive words fall 
from the lips of those who think precisely. The drawl of indif- 
ference, the loose, disjointed speech of ignorance, the driveling 
whine of the idiotic, are but descending steps in the scale that 
ascends from imbecility to the highest order of intelligence. 

The human voice is the most delicately attuned musical in- 
strument that God has created. It is capable of a cultivation 
beyond the dreams of those who have given it no thought. It 
may be made to express every emotion in the gamut of human 
sensations, from abject misery to boundless ecstacy. It marks 
the man without his consent; it makes the man if he will but 
cultivate it. 

Magnetic men and women possess self-control. That is a 
prerequisite to influencing others. They do not indulge in out- 
bursts of passion. If angered, the eloquence of silence, accented 
by a very few well-chosen words, suffices to emphasize their self- 
control. They are always thoughtful of self, yet ever conscious 
of others, never forgetful, yet never obtrusive; ready to lead or 
willing to follow. Thus, if you would cultivate personal mag- 
netism, cultivate self-control. Anger destroys reserve energy 
with the hanoTbT~a "prodigal ; it saps vitality and visits an awful 
punishment upon him who indulges it. It never accomplishes 
anything; its work is destruction; it is a price too dear to be paid 
for any achievement, and it always hinders success. It is de- 
structive of life itself. It follows, therefore, that no human pos- 
session is of sufficient value to justify its indulgence. If you 

127 



PERSONAL MAGNETISM. 

would he magnetic you must be calmly self-confident, self-cen- 
tered, sufficient unto yourself and unto others. 

The reader of this article is interested more or less in the 
science of hypnotism. It is not necessary, therefore, to lay em- 
phasis on the fact that hypnotism is, and always must be, in its 
true nature, the basis of personal magnetism. The successful 
hypnotist, with a little attention to himself, may develop a per- 
sonal magnetism that is irresistible. The practice of hypnotism 
furthers this object and for these reasons: First, it insures a 
confidence in self. Second, it necesitates an understanding of 
man's relation to man. Third, it consists of the exercise of influ- 
ence oyer others. Fourth, it develops the power to make effec- 
tive suggestions, to emphasize self-control as a condition prece- 
dent to the control of others, to the exercise of influence. It is 
the visible expression of cultivated personal magnetism. 

Hypnotism is but suggestion; therein lies its identity with 
personal magnetism. If you would influence others, you must 
be able to plant suggestions in their minds, — suggestions that 
will bear fruit in action. 

The essence of hypnotism is effective suggestion. It is not 
necessary to say more to emphasize the analogy between hypno- 
tism and personal magnetism, to establish their close identity. 
The successful hypnotist understands suggestion and knows that 
through it, he can gain dominion over men. Let him turn his 
attention to himself and to human nature, and he will soon be 
able to plant a suggestion in the mind of any person, each ac- 
cording to his kind. 

To cultivate your personal magnetism, study those who please 
you. Discover what elements in their character, attract you. 
Contrast them with others and find wherein lies their strength. 
Do not imitate their actions, but emulate their examples. Nor is 
this all. Lessons just as valuable may be drawn from those who 
repel you, and there are many such. There is a reason for this 
repulsion. It does not arise spontaneously and without provoca- 
tion. Analyze their characters, separating the good from the 
bad; assimilate the former, avoid the latter. 

Another class well worth your study is those who make no 
impression upon you. The milk and water people whom you 

128 



PERSONAL MAGNETISM. 

ignore inadvertently and notice only when they step on your 
toes. They have found, without an effort, the dead level of medi- 
ocrity, the commonplace position of the average. There is some ' 
reason for their lack of personality. Discover it, if possible, and 
add it to your list of things to avoid. 

The student of hypnotism understands auto-suggestion. Let 
him practice it to develop his personal magnetism. Determine 
to be magnetic and the condition is self-induced. Turn your 
will upon your wants and hold it there as the mariner holds the 
proud ship upon her course. Imagine a Napoleon without a 
will, a Grant without self-reliance, a Lincoln without fortitude ! 

Train your will upon the object of your achievement and do 
not swerve. Every obstacle may be surmounted, every desire 
achieved, every worthy wish gratified. Such a will may garner 
a plentiful harvest where the fields have been devastated by 
blighting failure. Such a will may unhorse death itself. It is 
the attribute of kings, yet it is beyond the reach of none who 
would acquire it. 



129 



HYPNOTIC STATES AND THEIR NEXT OF KIN. 

By WILLIAM ROMAINE NEWBOLD, Ph. D., University of Penn- 
sylvania. 

One often hears the word "hypnosis" used as though the 
thing for which it stands were as definite an entity as typhoid 
fever or diphtheria. Any recognized disease consists of certain 
well-marked symptoms which succeed one another in a fairly 
constant order, and, taken together, they constitute a relatively 
permanent system. This is not true of- "hypnosis." What in a 
disease would be called the "symptoms" are, it is true, fairly de- 
terminate in it so far as their character goes, but they occur in 
such irregular, seemingly haphazard, combination, that it is im- 
possible to frame any definition of "hypnosis" which will not 
seem hopelessly arbitrary. 

This tendency to make simple that which is really complex 
has resulted in much popular misapprehension, and in many 
superficial theories. The popular misapprehension is, perhaps, 
a minoi matter, — it was inevitable at any rate, — : but the super- 
ficial theories are, in part, preventable and are of more impor- 
tance, for they have often delayed the progress of investigation 
by giving the false impression that the ends of science had been 
reached and that further study of the facts was thereby ren- 
dered unnecessary. 

I wish to enumerate the more salient phenomena of the states 
termed "hypnotic," to point out their nearest analogues, to bring 
them under a common formula, and thus to show some of the 
questions which must be answered before a theory of their nature 
can be framed. But I do not intend to frame such a theory 
myself. The agencies used in the production of hypnotic states 
form a convenient starting point. They are two in number, — 
fixation of attention and the suggestion, "Go to sleep." The 
fixation of attention is usually prolonged, and various devices, 
such as passes and other monotonous sense rhythms, are used to 
prevent its wandering. But occasionally a sudden or violent 
arrest of attention, as for instance, that occasioned by a loud 



HYPNOTIC STATES AND THEIR NEXT OF KIN. 

noise or by a brilliant flash of light, proves sufficient to induce an 
hypnotic state. The suggestion, "Go to sleep" is often expanded 
into a series of suggestions, all of which are really implied in it, 
as, "You are growing drowsy, your eyelids grow heavy, your 
hands numb," etc., etc. The relative importance of these two 
factors has been much disputed. I believe that the fixation of 
attention is always essential. Even when one hypnotizes by sug- 
gestion alone, attention is fixed upon the hypnotizer and his sug- 
gestions. But fixation of attention is not always, or even usually, 
sufficient to produce an hypnotic state for the first time, without 
suggestion. After the subject has been frequently hypnotized, 
however, he can be again thrown into an hypnotic state by any- 
thing to which the idea of being hypnotized has been attached, — 
he can even hypnotize himself. 

The effects produced by such manipulations can be classed 
Tinder six chief heads: 

1. Disturbances of Motion. 

2. Disturbances of Sensation. 

3. Disturbances of Ideation. 

4. Suggestibility. 

5. Post-hypnotic and Sub-conscious States. 

6. Rapport. 

The most common disturbance of motion is paralysis. It 
usually begins in the eyelids, progressing thence to lips and 
tongue, fingers, hand, arm, body. But its progress is sometimes 
more irregular and it often does not go so far. 

The disturbances in sensation may be in the direction of an 
increase or of a diminution in sensitiveness. Increase I have 
never seen, though it has been reported by others. Diminution 
may be partial, or may progress to total anaesthesia. Sensitive- 
ness to pain is usually the first to be affected, then the others, but 
m case of the others I have never observed any order in their 
going. But one should remember that the deafness, for ex- 
ample, of an hypnotic state is very different from the deafness 
which is due to a destruction of the hearing machinery. It is 
more like the deafness of the boiler maker, who, though his 
hearing is perfectly good, will say that he 'does not hear/ the 

131 



HYPNOTIC STATES AND THEIE NEXT OF KIN. 

incessant hammering in the midst of which his waking hours 
are spent. To this I shall recur later. 

The ideational effects are the most difficult to ascertain and 
to classify. There is no doubt that most commonly the flow of 
thought is stayed. The teeming trains of ideas become thinned 
out and the ideas that remain succeed one another much more 
slowly than in the normal state. Thinking becomes an effort 
and soon comes to an apparent stop. But sometimes precisely 
the opposite is observed. Sober thought is replaced by vivid 
dreams, very like those of normal sleep, or by a swift stream of 
relatively coherent ideas poured forth in a "sermon" or "lecture." 
Between these extremes, again, lie all .manner of intermediate 
states. Memory also is generally profoundly influenced and often 
for the better. The subject can often recall with precision many 
trifling happenings which he has entirely forgotten in his wak- 
ing life. But occasionally memory seems to be split into mu- 
tually exclusive strata, the subject remembering the occurrences 
of previous hypnotic states only, or of certain periods of his life 
only. When this happens, one has reason to suspect that the 
subject's waking memory is not normal, — but this question is too- 
broad for discussion here. 

As a rule, the occurrences of the hypnotic state are not re- 
called after awaking. But the rule has many exceptions and I 
think that altogether too much emphasis has been laid upon it by 
many writers. The most characteristic change which hypnotiz- 
ing works in the inner life is also the most difficult to define. 
We are all familiar with a something which we term the "self" 
and with the acts of will and of effort which we ascribe to the 
"self" in a peculiarly intimate sense ; but it is not easy to define 
what we mean by the "self," or by ascribing to it acts of will 
and of effort. Whatever it be, this it is which is most affected 
in hypnotic states. It seems to lose, in a large measure, its power 
of initiation and of resistance. Whenever the subject can re- 
member enough of the hypnotic state to describe his feelings this 
is the one thing upon which he lays most emphasis. He will say 
he felt "drowsy" or "lazy" or "helpless;" that he often recog- 
nized the commands of the hypnotizer as absurd, but was either 
unable or disinclined to resist their execution. 

132 



HYPNOTIC STATES AND THEIR NEXT OF KIN. 

This brings me to the fourth phenomenon, — suggestibility. 
By a "suggestion" is meant any impression or idea which tends 
to produce in the subject some change other than itself, more 
especially to produce an act of some kind. "Suggestibility" is a 
state in which such tendencies are strengthened, in many cases 
so much so that they are practically sure of realization. Sug- 
gestions are usually given in the form of commands, but any- 
thing which expresses the wishes of the hypnotizer, and some- 
times impressions not connected with the hypnotizer, will pro- 
duce an effect. For instance, the "wax like catalepsy" so often 
observed is merely the realization of a suggestion which the hyp- 
notizer conveys by placing the subject's limbs in a given posi- 
tion, — the subject takes the hint and keeps them there. Any- 
thing which the hypnotizer says to another person in the sub- 
ject's hearing, or even a hint conveyed by a tone of voice, will 
often serve as effectually as the most positive command. Sug- 
gestibility is a chief factor in the production of controversies 
among observers of the phenomena, for, unless one is on his 
guard, he is apt to find in his subject just what he expects to find 
and no more. 

Suggestibility varies much in degree and is often subject to 
curious and apparently arbitrary limitations. I have usually- 
found the muscles suggestible in proportion to the degree of 
paralysis. In one of my subjects, for example, the eyelids, lips, 
tongue and fingers were paralyzed and they obeyed my every 
command. But the arm was only weakened, not helpless, and 
when I told the subject he could not lift that arm he disobeyed 
me and did it, — with difficulty it is true, but still he did it. In 
another the left hand was totally paralyzed, the right but 
slightly. I ordered the forefinger of the right hand to wag, — 
there was no apparent result. Two or three minutes afterwards 
I saw that forefinger wagging violently and had much difficulty 
in stopping it. Here the suggestibility existed, but it was im- 
perfect and I was never able to improve it. The right hand, 
however, I could never affect at all. 

To the subject this suggestibility presents itself under various 
forms. Sometimes the muscles seem to obey the commands of 

i33 



HYPNOTIC STATES AND THEIR NEXT OF KIN. 

themselves, the subject looking on, so to speak, but having no 
part in producing the result. In other cases the suggestion seems 
to be realized only through the subject's own will; he must con- 
sent before it can be carried out. He then sometimes feels that 
he must obey, whether he will or no ; at others he feels as though 
he could refuse but "didn't care to make the effort," or thought 
he "might as well oblige" the hypnotizer. How far these feel- 
ings of the subject's are illusory is an open question, but I thi nk 
there are always limits to the hypnotizer's power of imposing 
upon the subject suggestions which he finds repugnant, and a 
more careful study of these limitations is one of the things most 
needed in hypnotism. 

The fifth phenomenon to which I shall call attention is the 
post-hypnotic state together with the notion of sub-consciousness 
which is often irresistibly suggested by it. Occasionally a sugges- 
tion given during the hypnotic state spontaneously outlasts the 
state itself. Thus, I once told the subject of whom I have above 
spoken, — the one whose finger responded so slowly to the sugges- 
tion to wag, — that his left hand was stiff. ~No apparent effect. A 
little later I woke him and. found that his hand was as rigid as a 
bar of iron ; neither he nor I could do anything with it at all and 
I had to hypnotize him again to undo the locked muscles. Here 
the suggestion refused to include itself in the general command 
"wake up," and persisted into the waking state. An analogous 
phenomenon, — and this is what is commonly known as the "post- 
hypnotic suggestion" — can be produced in nearly all cases by tell- 
ing the subject to do so and so when a specified signal is given, — 
the signal being given only after he awakes. The study of the 
relation which such post-hypnotic suggestions bear to the normal 
consciousness into which they are intruded is the most interest- 
ing and has proved one of the most valuable fields of study 
offered by hypnotism, for it has thrown a flood of light upon some 
of the most perplexing phenomena of hysteria, — in particular 
upon the "sub-conscious fixed idea" and "double personality." 
Sometimes the subject has not the least idea that the act in 
question has been imposed upon him by another; he fancies that 
he does it of his own motion and will allege the most plausible 
reasons for wholly purposeless acts. For example, a subject who 

i34 



HYPNOTIC STATES AND THEIE NEXT OF KIN. 

had been told to open and then close the door upon a given 
signal, when asked why he did it said, "I thought I heard a dog 
in the hall/' Very often the subject, while performing the 
post-hypnotic suggestion, relapses temporarily into an hypnotic 
state. 

Sometimes there is reason to believe that states of conscious- 
ness which appear in the hypnotic state, persist after the subject 
has awakened in a sort of subterranean or, more exactly, sub- 
conscious form, quite unknown to his waking consciousness. Sup- 
pose the subject be told that after he awakes he is to do so and 
so as soon as the hypnotizer has used the word "and" ten 
times. Punctually upon the utterance of the tenth "and" the 
suggestion will be executed. Clearly the "ands" were being 
counted. Yet if the subject be questioned about it before the 
tenth "and" has been reached, he will not have the least idea 
how many "ands" have been used, and will stoutly protest that 
he never dreamed of counting them. What, then, did the count- 
ing? If you hypnotize him he will tell you immediately how 
many "ands" have been used, and will say that he was counting 
them all the time. This is the very simplest form of the class of 
phenomena to which "double personality" belongs, — a class of 
phenomena the importance of which to psychological theory 
cannot be overestimated. 

The sixth and last phenomenon to which I shall call atten- 
tion is that of rapport. In most hypnotic states only the hypno- 
tizer has access to the hypnotized mind. To his every word the 
patient is keenly alive, but he is dead to all else. The spontaneity 
of this phenomenon has been contested of late and it has been 
ascribed to suggestion. My own experience leads me to believe 
that it is the normal result of the manipulations which produce 
the hypnotic state, being due to the fact that the hypnotizer 
never allows his subject to lose consciousness of him, though 
consciousness of all else falls away. 

These six are the leading phenomena which are produced by 
the manipulations which I have described. But not all are found 
in the same subject. One might almost say that no two subjects 
hypnotize in exactly the same way, or, if that be deemed an exag- 

135 



HYPNOTIC STATES AND THEIR NEXT OF KIN. 

geration, as it doubtless is, one certainly may say that the varia- 
tions which are found are too extensive to be accounted for by 
any one principle. Hence I do not think it well to attempt a 
definition of "hypnosis." I do not think there is any one com- 
bination of these phenomena which is sufficiently common to be 
entitled "hypnosis" or "the hypnotic state." It is better to speak 
of such states simply as "hypnotic." 

These phenomena are by no means isolated in rerum naiura. 
Each of them is found in other contexts, but the attempt to 
enumerate all of those contexts would carry me far beyond the 
limits of this paper. I can only sketch briefly their next of kin. 

Of these one of the nearest, as the very name "hypnotic" 
implies, is sleep, formal sleep is usually produced, not by con- 
centration of attention, though that favors its onset and is often 
resorted to when sleep is slow in coming, but by the simple with- 
drawal of the stimuli of sense. And although not all the phe- 
nomena of hypnotic states are characteristic of sleep, all are at 
least occasionally found in it. Yet it is not quite exact to say 
that hypnotic states are forms of sleep, unless one would call an 
unfinished building a kind of house. They are rather cases in 
which the processes which normally end in sleep have been ar- 
rested; the subject is only partly asleep. This is the reason why 
hypnotic states are so unstable, always tending to resolve them- 
selves into either sleep or waking life. They are essentially 
transition states artificially prolonged. 

Another group of near relatives to hypnotic states is to be 
found in "trance" and "ecstacy." Trance is characterized (1) 
by a suspension of the ordinary sense commerce between the 
world of ideas and the world of things; (2) by great activity of 
J the idea-trains themselves. Ecstacy is a trance-state in which 
there is an overflow of pleasurable consciousness, sometimes so 
' great as practically to submerge all articulate thinking. But the 
precise relation which these states sustain to the hypnotic is diffi- 
cult to determine. They are of relatively infrequent occurrence 
and have never been sufficiently studied. 

The nearest analogue to the hypnotic states is undoubtedly 
to be found in hysteria. Here we find all the above-described 

136 



/ 



HYPNOTIC STATES AND THEIR NEXT OF KIN. 

phenomena, occurring, not temporarily and in response to manip- 
ulation especially designed to produce them, but spontaneously, 
often persisting for months and years, and in the greatest variety 
and profusion. Many writers, with Charcot at their head, go so 
far as to regard the hypnotic states as merely forms of hysteria, 
while many others, led by the professors of the school of Nancy, 
repudiate the charge, with much needless bitterness, as a slur 
upon the mental and physical health of the subject. The truth, 
as often, lies between the two extremes. The phenomena and, 
perhaps, in part the causes of hypnotic states, are identical with 
some of those of hysteria, but this no more makes the hypnotic 
subject an hysteric than a bruised foot makes a man a cripple, or 
a dose of whiskey makes him a lunatic. Hysteria is a relatively 
permanent entity, produced by relatively permanent causes, 
while hypnotic states are transitory groups of phenomena pro- 
duced and ended at will. But, one may retort, if the foot is 
bruised often enough and badly enough the man wili become a 
cripple indeed, and if he drinks enough whiskey often enough he 
may become a lunatic, — does the analogy hold? That is a ques- 
tion of fact upon which the authorities differ.* If a so-called 
hypnotic state were to become permanent, or were to tend to a 
recur of itself, it would undoubtedly be a form of hysteria, but 
the weight of evidence, in my opinion, goes to show that repeated 
hypnotizing does not tend to fix the hypnotic state upon the sub- 
ject, — that it has in fact no injurious effects whatever. ( Still, the 
question should be regarded as openAu- /2ui edit- n^JUS^^o * 
All these diverse phenomena are capable of being brought 
under one conception. All can be expressed in terms of the rela- 
tion between the self and the various sensations, ideas, motor 
powers and powers of control which we usually ascribe to the self. 
The hypnotic paralysis is not a true paralysis. The motor ma- 
chinery remains intact, but for the time being the self is deprived 
of its power of control over the muscles. Hypnotic anaesthesias 
are not true anaesthesias. Of them, as of hysterical anaesthesias, 
it is possible to prove that the lost sensations still in some 

*From long- experience and close observation, I am thoroughly convinced 
that hypnosis within itself is absolutely harmless. If any harmful effects 
should of-oiir, the same power that produced them could immediately correct 
them.— Editor. 

*37 , ,., 



^7 ' 



HYPNOTIC STATES AND THEIR NEXT OF KIN. 

sense exist, although cut of! from and unknown to the hypnotized 
self. Whether the arrest of thinking is to be interpreted in like 
manner as a mere separation of thought from self, or is to be 
regarded as an actual abolition of thought, is more dubious, but 
in many cases the evidence for the first conception is very strong. 
The loss of the power of initiation is a phenomenon peculiarly 
characteristic of these states', and goes hand in hand with sugges- 
tibility. The two together constitute a "weakening" of the 
self. Losses of memory are to be interpreted as are losses of 
sensation, — the memories still exist in some sense and can be 
revived. Gains, whether in memory, sensation or power of mo- 
tion, are only to be looked for, as a rule, when the normal con- 
sciousness exhibits corresponding losses. Every normal con- 
sciousness has forgotten much, while relatively few ordinary 
consciousnesses, — and they, of course, are not normal, — are de- 
fective in sensory or motor powers, hence gains in memory are 
more common than gains in sensation and motion. But there are 
cases in which the gain exhibited in the hypnotic state cannot be 
interpreted as the repairing of some earlier loss, but really repre- 
sents an increase in power above the normal. 

The phenomenon of rapport is nothing more than the fact 
that impressions proceeding from the hypnotizer are exempt from 
the destructive process which cuts the self off from the impres- 
sions of the outer w^orld, — they are never lost. Suggestibility is 
of two types. In the first the elements lost by the subject can be 
directly controlled by the hypnotizer. In the second the resisting 
power of the self is so far weakened that it passively accepts and 
executes nearly all the hypnotizer' s commands. In post-hypnotic 
suggestion certain phenomena of the hypnotic state persist int> 
waking life, and the question as to the existence and nature of 
' sub-conscious states, which is really connected, as I have shown, 
with all forms of hypnotic losses, is forced more clearly upon the 
student. 

Thus these changes in the relation of the self to the various 
activities of consciousness may be summed up somewhat as fol- 
lows: In the normal state, the self is conscious of various sensa- 
tions and ideas of which, in the abnormal state, it is not conscious, 
although their continued existence can, in some sense, be some- 

138 



HYPNOTIC STATES AND THEIK NEXT OF KIN. 

times proved and may always be suspected, and, occasionally, in 
the abnormal state the self gains new ideas or increases in sensi- 
tiveness which are not found in the normal. In the normal state 
the self possesses a control over the muscles, a power of initiation 
and a power of resistance to external commands which it loses in 
the abnormal. Clearly then the solution of these problems turns, 
upon the answers to such questions as these: What is the self? 
What are these "activities" of which the self is "conscious?" Are 
the "activities" themselves conscious states and is the self's "be- 
coming conscious of them" nothing more than the blending of 
two streams of consciousness? If so they are still conscious when 
separated from the self. Or are they mere brain processes, be- 
coming "conscious" only when in some way affecting self-con- 
sciousness? What is the nature of this "weakening of the self" of 
which I have so often had occasion to speak? Is the self a spir- 
itual being, finding but imperfect expression through the activi- 
ties of the brain with which it is united, and are hypnosis, 
hysteria and so on various complex disorganizations of those 
activities, impairing that union and rendering that expression yet 
more imperfect? Or is the human personality a species of layer 
cake, with one self on top and one or more other selves beneath, 
and are these abnormal states due to a partial or total destruction 
of the upper self, thus allowing one or more of the lower selves 
to come to view ? Or is the self nothing more than a co-ordinate 
system of activities, its control over any giv^n one of them noth- 
ing more than the sum of the controls exerted over that one by all 
the others, and are these abnormal states due to a partial or total 
disruption of the system, by which the various elements are set 
free to pursue their more or less ungoverned ways, or to fall 
under the sway of the hypnotizer? 

These and their like are the questions which must be an- 
swered before we can frame a theory of the hypnotic state, and 
the answers to them will be found, not in the wild dreams of 
half-educated and wholly visionary theorists, nor yet in the arbi- 
trary assumptions of a soi disant "science," but in the observa- 
tions arid experiments of many generations of patient, plodding 
students. 



i39 



THE FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES OF HYPNOTISM. 

By THOMSON JAY HUDSON, LL. D., Author of "The Law of Psychic 
Phenomena," "A Scientific Demonstration of the Future Life," "The 
Divine Pedigree of Man," etc. 

Hypnotism constitutes no exception to the axiom that the 
successful study and practice of any science depends, primarily, 
upon the student's mastery of its fundamental principles. This 
sounds like — and it is — a truism. And yet no axiom of science 
is so persistently disregarded as this is by the average student 
and practitioner of hypnotism. 

Without stopping to illustrate my meaning by the citation of 
examples, I propose to state what I regard as the essential funda- 
ments of the science, without an understanding of which hypno- 
tism can neither be mastered as a science nor practiced with 
safety. The first of these pertains to the classification of hypno- 
tism as a science; the second relates to the interpretation of its 
phenomena, and the third to the conditions of safe and successful 
practice. 

CLASSIFICATION. 

(1.) Of the first, little need be said beyond a statement that 
hypnotism, as a science, belongs primarily to the domain of psy- 
chology. That is to say, the phenomena of hypnotism are psycho- 
logical effects due to psychological causes. To the majority of 
modern scientific investigators this will appear to be a self-evi- 
dent proposition; and it might be dismissed as such were it not 
for the fact that many of the materialistic school of scientists still 
persist in a vain search for a physiological cause of the phenom- 
ena. It is, therefore, of the first importance for the student to 
realize that he is dealing with phenomena that are induced by 
mental conditions; and that accompanying physiological phe- 
nomena are effects — not causes. Otherwise he will seek in vain 
for a working hypothesis capable of correlating all the facts with 
which he will come in contact. 



THE FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES OF HYPNOTISM. 

INTERPRETATION. 

(2.) It is in the interpretation of phenomena that a knowl- 
edge of fundamental principles becomes absolutely indispensable. 
Until within a very feAv years, students of the science of hypno- 
tism have been handicapped by the lack of such knowledge. 
Many were in doubt whether it was a psychological or physio- 
logical science. The law of suggestion had not been discovered. 
The law of duality of mind had not been formulated. The dis- 
covery of the law of suggestion by European scientists at once 
settled the question of classification, and afforded an explanation 
of much that was mysterious in the phenomena. Indeed, so far as 
hypnotism, per se, was concerned, nothing further seemed to be 
required to constitute a valid, working hypothesis. But it was 
soon found that there were thousands of cognate phenomena 
which the law of suggestion, as at first formulated, could not 
adequately explain. In other words, it was obvious that the law 
was of far wider application than to persons in the hypnotic con- 
dition. Another term was, therefore, necessary to constitute a 
valid, working hypothesis, applicable alike to hypnotism and 
to all other psychic phenomena. That term was found in the 
theory of duality of mind. Formally stated, the hypothesis is as 
follows : 

1. Man is endowed Avith two minds, — objective and subjec- 
tive. 

2. The subjective mind is constantly amenable to control by 
suggestion, either by the objective mind of the individual, (auto- 
suggestion) or by another person, as in the practice of hypnotism. 

These two propositions, properly understood, constitute a 
never-failing working hypothesis applicable alike to the phenom- 
ena of hypnotism and to all other psychic phenomena. 

In the space allotted to this article it is impossible adequately 
to differentiate the two minds; and the reader must be referred 
+o the author's published works* for a full explanation. In the 
meantime, however, it will be sufficient for the purposes of this 
article to say that the objective mind is the mind of ordinary 

* "The Law of Psychic Phenomena;" "A Scientific Demonstration of 
the Future Life;" and "The Divine Pedigree of Man."— New York State 
Pub. Co., Rochester, N. Y. 

141 



THE FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES OF HYPNOTISM. 

waking consciousness. The subjective mind is the source of that 
intelligence which is manifested when the objective mind is 
asleep or is otherwise inhibited, as in dreams or in hypnotism. 

As an illustration of the capacity of this hypothesis to explain 
psychic phenomena, mental therapeutics or mind cure may be 
cited as an example. The chaotic condition of that science, in 
times past, is too well known to require comment. An indefinite 
number of conflicting theories was invoked to account for the 
well recognized fact that a vast number of diseases could be cured 
by mental proccesses. The only thing common to the theories 
was their unscientific character. But this was offset by the fact 
that the ability to cure disease was common to all systems. Thus 
it was that so-called "Christian Science" and other cognate 
forms of fetichism, up to voodoism, including the placebo of the 
medical practitioner, were for many years enshrouded in the 
same veil of mystery. Even hypnotism, in its early history, was 
prolific of theories of causation, some of them reaching into the 
realms of superstition; and of those who were least inclined to 
superstitious notions, many regarded the hypnotic sleep as being 
in itself, the curative agency. The discovery of the law of sug- 
gestion, however, served to dispel the latter idea; but it was not 
until the general hypothesis had been formulated that a rational 
theory applicable to mental therapeutics was rendered possible. 
That is to say, when the law of duality of mind was discovered, 
it became evident that the law of suggestion pertained exclusively 
to the subjective mind. From this it was but a step to the obvious 
conclusion that in the subjective mind resides the potential en- 
ergy that controls the functions, sensations and conditions of the 
body. And thus it was that, by adding the latter proposition as a 
subsidiary term to the original theory, a perfect working hypo- 
thesis for mental healing was evolved. Its terms are as follows: 

1. Man is endowed with two minds, — objective and sub- 
jective. 

2. The subjective mind is constantly amenable to control by 
suggestion. 

3. The subjective mind controls the functions, sensations 
and conditions of the body. 

142 



THE FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES OF HYPNOTISM. 

It is self-evident that, if these three propositions are true, 
they constitute a working hypothesis which explains all of the 
phenomena of mental healing, (by whatever name the various 
systems may be designated) suggests in a general way the method 
of successful practice, and removes the whole subject-matter 
from the realms of mysticism and superstition. That each propo- 
sition is true cannot be successfully refuted. To say the very 
least, everything happens exactly as though they were true ; and 
that is all that any scientist pretends to demand in a working 
hypothesis. In this respect it is as well sustained as is the atomic 
theory, or the Newtonian hypothesis of gravitation. 

It will thus be seen how perfectly the hypothesis of duality 
of mind, coupled with the law of suggestion, explains all that is 
mysterious, and harmonizes all that seems contradictory, in the 
vast congeries of systems of mental therapeutics. And the stu- 
dent is assured that he can rely upon the same hypothesis as an 
instrument of logic and science equally efficacious in the expli- 
cation of all other psychic phenomena. 

PBACTICE. 

I have purposely selected mental therapeutics as an illustra- 
tion of the efficacy of the dual mind hypothesis as a means of 
correctly interpreting the phenomena of hypnotism, for the rea- 
son that it is in therapeutics that hypnotism finds its most useful 
employment. In saying this I am not unmindful of its potential 
value as an agent of moral reform, or of the fact that it may 
be made extremely useful in promoting the education of the 
young. Nor do I underestimate its importance or usefulness in 
the field of experimental psychology; for it is to hypnotism that 
credit is due for the elevation of psychology into the domain of 
the inductive sciences. Nevertheless, the great majority of 'those 
who are interested in the science, are so because of its value as a 
therapeutic agent. 

The value of truth is universally recognized in a general 
way; but there are few who seem to be aware of its transcendent 
importance Avhen dealing with a hypnotic subject. Any devia- 
tion from the truth in making suggestions to a hypnotized sub- 
ject works an injury to his nervous system exactly proportioned 

i43 



THE FUNDAMENTAL PKINCIPLES OF HYPNOTISM. 

to the character and importance of the deviation. A very simple 
experiment will demonstrate the truth of this proposition. After 
a subject has been hypnotized, let another hypnotist be intro- 
duced and placed in communication with the subject. Then let 
a strong, vigorous suggestion be made to the subject by one of 
the hypnotists and immediately denied by the other. In other 
words, let two antagonistic suggestions be enforced upon the sub- 
ject at the same time. By the law of his being, he is compelled 
to accept the suggestions imparted to him. But here are two an- 
tagonistic suggestions, equally, we must suppose, entitled to 
acceptance, and each clamoring for recognition. The result is 
that the subject is thrown into a state of mental distress and 
nervousness that is simply indescribable; and it usually ends by 
the awakening of the subject with a painful nervous shock. It 
goes without saving that a persistence in such experiments would 
soon wreck the strongest nervous organism. 

I have supposed an extreme case; but it is obvious that any 
two opposing suggestions to a hypnotized subject must produce a 
like effect, differing only in degree, and proportioned to the im- 
portance of the subject-matter. 

Now, be it remembered that an auto-suggestion, or a sugges- 
tion arising from the experience or the training of the individual, 
is just as potent as the suggestions of a hypnotist. Whatever, 
therefore, is recognized as truth by the subject in his normal 
experience, constitutes an auto-suggestion to his subjective mind. 
It follows that a false suggestion made by a hypnotist violently 
antagonizes the auto-suggestions of the normal experience of the 
subject; and the result is precisely the same as in the experimen- 
tal cases we have supposed, — proportioned, of course, to its impor- 
tance to the hypnotized subject. That is to say, in matters of 
indifference he may, and often does, accept a false suggestion 
with seeming alacrity; whereas, in matters of some importance 
to himself, he will offer a stronger resistance before accepting it; 
and in matters of supreme importance, as in criminal suggestion, 
or those violative of the conscientious scruples of the subject, 
especially where a criminal suggestion is sought to be carried into 
immediate execution, the same violent shock to the nervous 



144 



THE FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES OP HYPNOTISM. 

organism, — the same awakening to normal consciousness is ex- 
perienced — as in the experimental case mentioned. 

It is, in short, a universal law that (1) antagonistic sugges- 
tions imparted to a hypnotized subject invariably shock his 
nervous organism to a greater or less degree. (2) A known truth 
and a suggested falsehood constitute antagonistic suggestions in 
the mind of a hypnotized subject. It follows that false sugges- 
tions cannot be indulged in with safety to the hypnotic subject', 
and persistence in the vicious practice will invariably wreck his 
nervous organism and reduce him to a state of imbecility. 

It is evident, therefore, that the danger line in hypnotism 
is coincident with that which divides truth from error. On 
error's side lies constant danger in the psycho-physical as in the 
moral world. Safetv is on the side of truth. 



i45 



HISTORY OF HYPNOTISM. 

By MAX DESSO'IR, M. D., Ph. D., Professor of Philosophy, University 
of Berlin. 

About fifteen years ago — I was then a student eighteen 
years of age — I began to think seriously about hypnotism. At 
that time the extcnsiveness and significance of hypnotism had not 
been accepted in Germany, particularly not in Berlin; conse- 
quently the main task for myself and my friends consisted in 
establishing a fit position for the "fact" itself. By means of 
demonstrations in the "Society for Experimental Psychology/' 
just founded at that time, and which is now known as "Psy- 
chologische Gesellschaft," by means of demonstration in medical 
societies, for which Dr. Moll deserves much credit and by means 
of many popular essays, we slowly approached the accomplish- 
ment of our aim. This rather necessary task of vulgarizing was 
frequently met by a somewhat humiliating treatment on the part 
of our younger searchers. The gentlemen forget that their re- 
searches (although perhaps of a far greater scientific value) 
would have been practically impossible if at that very time facts 
of hypnosis had not been introduced into the general knowledge, 
viz., into the rank of recognized phenomena. 

I am inclined to think that the progress of explaining hyp- 
notic phenomena is not as great as younger scientists are inclined 
to suppose. Even to this day a number of problems are quite as 
vague as they were ten and fifteen years ago. As for instance, 
the problem of the relationship of sleep to hypnosis. Other 
problems again are solved to-day, just as they were solved in 
former days. Some things, however, have actually changed, and 
these are principally the two following: First, that we find 
discussions on the subject in scientific journals which have even 
been taken up by the Royal Bavarian Academy of Science; there 
was a time when this would have been deemed impossible, but it 
is a glorious result \of the movement that took place in Germany 
in the eighties. Second, the terminology is much changed. 

146 



HISTORY OF HYPNOTISM. 

The leading words of former hypnotic literature were popularly 
selected, and not always the most accurate. But even if the rep- 
resentation has changed, the original theories have remained the 
same. Xo new point of view of any importance has been pre- 
sented; no thought expressed that we have not already found in 
Bentivegni, Forel, Moll, Schrenk, ]^otzing and others, naming 
German writers only. 

With us the treatment of hypnotism has passed through two 
phases in the past twenty years, and when I survey the work 
accomplished in both and ask as a philosopher ought to do, not 
about single results, but regarding the general result, the process 
presents itself to me, as one among the many evolutions by means 
of which something apparently objective has in reality been 
recognized as something subjective. Whereas, it was formerly 
supposed that hypnosis with all its strange features could be pro- 
duced by magnetic effluxions, or similar causes, — that is to say — 
by objective conditions; we know now that the decisive process is 
performed in the soul of the hypnotic himself. (Bead Moll in 
his studies of the "rapport" in hypnosis.) With this removing 
into the subject, the theory of hypnosis has at the same time been 
converted into psychology, and this is universally acknowledged 
at present. But the treatment and conception of hypnosis vary 
according to the conception and treatment of psychology. The 
disciples of physiological psychology seek an explanation in nerv- 
ous processes. The representatives of psychology of association 
define the suggestion by the aid of associative processes, etc. I, 
personally, am now as ever, of the opinion that the auxiliary no- 
tion of the sub-conscious physical activity is a permissible hypo- 
thesis and can give a sufficient explanation; a veritable psycho- 
logical explanation can (yes must, perhaps) take advantage of the 
facts conveyed in the ideas of super and sub-consciousness, double ■ 
ego, etc. It is true that this creates some difficulty in the psycho- 
logy which is at present accepted. For with the atomistic anal- 
ysis of the contents of consciousness practiced at the present time, 
the former ideas can only be united if we attribute a certain 
degree of strength to the substance contained therein, by means 
of which they can take possession of the quantity of energy at 
their disposal. It would appear to me, therefore, that the re- 

H7 



HISTORY OF HYPNOTISM. 

searches made in hypnotic conditions will lead from psycho- 
logical atomistics to psychological energetics. 

The acknowledgment of the subjective and psychological 
character of hypnosis has had still another effect. By means of 
this enlightenment a number of conditions have been explained 
which were formerly excellent food for superstition. Now we 
can understand the mechanism of automatic writing, of trance 
speaking, etc. In fact we have been enabled to raise the veil of 
popular superstition, which in former years was quite impossible, 
and whosoever knows what the social importance of superstition 
implies, will appreciate the significance of this fact. 



148 



SOME MANIFESTATIONS OF DOUBLE CONSCIOUSNESS 
AND THEIR RELATION TO HYPNOTISM. 

By CLARK WISSLER, Fellow in Psychology, Columbia University. 

Now and then individuals are met with, seemingly actuated 
either alternately or simultaneously by two different and distinct 
personalities. The personality usually predominating is regarded 
as the normal, or primary personality, while the one less promi- 
nent or less frequent and complete in manifestation is known as 
the secondary personality. The appearance of the latter may be 
frequent, periodical or rare. When such manifestations result 
from internal or functional causes, they are considererd natural, 
but when due to personal manipulation of external conditions, 
they are spoken of as induced. In hypnotism we find the indi- 
vidual actuated by a strange and apparently independent per- 
sonality, neither known to nor knowing the normal personality, a 
condition induced usually by an operator who alternates the two 
personalities at will and who possesses power of control, more or 
less complete, over the secondary personality. In cases of auto- 
matic writing, planchet writing, etc., we find two distinct person- 
alities working simultaneously, but independent of and unknown 
to each other. In the latter, no operator is necessary as the secon- 
dary personality will communicate with any one in its chosen 
way j or express ideas when no one is present. It thus appears 
that hypnotism is a particular kind of phenomena belonging to 
n more general class. 

The so-called hysterical eye presents an interesting case of 
double personality. In such an eye the normal field of vision is 
greatly narrowed so that objects falling slightly to one side of 
the retina are not seen as in the normal eye. Yet, if a pencil be 
placed in the hand of a person so afflicted and the attention fully 
occupied elsewhere, the hand will often proceed to record what 
falls upon the apparently blind part of the retina, while its owner 
is ignorant of the whole affair. Here we have a secondary per- 
sonality able to receive impressions too weak to reach the other. 

149 



SOME MANIFESTATIONS OF DOUBLE CONSCIOUSNESS 

In ordinary cases of automatic writing the impressions are re- 
ceived through the ear. 

Attempts have been made to induce automatic writing in 
normal persons with some show of success, but so far as the writer 
is aware no such cases have gone far enough to put the eye or ear 
in rapport with the hand, so as to furnish a clear case of induced 
double personality That such is possible the following experi- 
ments seem to indicate. 

In the first place, let us see if the eyes of normal persons can 
be trained to act in a manner similar to the hysterical eye. Dr. 
Scripture, of Yale, made a few observations upon unconscious 
association, that give us a hint as to how to approach this prob- 
lem. He mounted pictures upon cards, in one corner of which 
a small letter was printed, so that when the subject was looking 
at the picture the small letter would fall upon the indirect field 
of the retina. Eye movements were avoided and the letter made 
invisible by exposing the card for an instant only. After seeing 
the picture, the subject was asked what letter it suggested to him. 
As a great many answers agreed with the letter in the corner of 
the card, the conclusion was reached that association might take 
place between things consciously seen and those not so seen. 

Similar tests were made by the writer. The cards used car- 
ried rather complex geometrical figures of the same size. Upon 
the right end of the card a letter or numeral was printed. The 
card was exposed by a quick acting shutter, and a fixation point 
served to keep the eye of the subject in the proper position. In 
the preliminary experiments the subject was requested to close 
his left eye and fix his right upon the point where the figures 
would appear and to take note of them as they were exposed. 
Three cards were shown in succession, after which they were 
repeated in a series of four and at each exposure the subject was 
required to say whether he had seen the figure in the former 
series, and then requested to name the first letter coming to mind. 
The purpose and conditions of the experiment were unknown to 
the subjects, they being led to believe my object the testing of 
their ability to recognize geometrical figures and the determina- 
tion of what they first associated with them. Because of this 
they fixed their eyes so intently upon the place where the figures 

150 



AND THEIR RELATION TO HYPNOTISM. 

were to appear that the presence of characters on the end of 
the card was not discovered. Thus the conditions of fixed atten- 
tion essential to automatic writing, etc., were secured. 

Six young men, college students, were taken for the prelimi- 
nary trials. With two of them the number of correct answers 
far exceeded the limits of chance, while the others did no better 
than if they had simply drawn letters from a hat. So far we 
have simply tested Dr. Scripture's conclusions and found them 
true, at least for some individuals. 

The two promising subjects, C and R, were then practiced 
with daily for several weeks with decided improvement in the 
number of correct answers. As was to be expected C and R soon 
found the letters coming into mind shortly after the presentation 
of the card. According to their own statements the change came 
about in this way. As the differences between the complex geo- 
metrical figures were small, they found it difficult to remember 
them in detail. So while the experimenter was changing a card 
they would visualize the preceding. It was not long until the 
letters would also come into mind for the association. A little 
later the letter would come as soon as the figure was seen in the 
first presentation. From this it appeared that association, of mem- 
ory images was not necessary to bring impressions of the marginal 
letters into consciousness and the method was changed accord- 
ingly. Pictures were substituted for the geometrical figures and 
numerals were used in the margins. The subject was to name 
the picture as quickly as possible and then give the numeral sug- 
gested. Between each exposure the subject was engaged in con- 
versation to break up any trains of association set going by the 
previous one, and to prevent him falling into that state of mind 
best described as "wondering what the next will be." 

In all the earlier tests the subject knew in each case what 
kinds of images he was expected to select from the train follow- 
ing the exposure. After a time it was found easy to pass from 
letters to numerals as the case required. The final tests were 
given without this cue, the marginal characters being letters, 
numerals and blanks in irregular order. 

We give here a table of the first twenty cases in the final 
test of E. It is not necessary to give other results for either C or 

*5> 



SOME MANIFESTATIONS OF DOUBLE CONSCIOUSNESS 

E, as they are all similar. The striking difference between C and 
E was that C gave letters best and E numerals. In the course 
of the tests both subjects discovered by accident the presence of 
the actual characters in the margins and thus learned the purpose 
and conditions of the experiment. Yet the rate of improvement 
was not apparently modified by this knowledge and actual test 
showed them unable to see consciously the characters on the card 
when the shutter was thrown under the same conditions as be- 
fore. We thus have reasonable proof that the retina in the indi- 
rect field of these eyes carried in impressions not consciously seen 
and handed them over to the conscious self — impressions too 
weak to be directly experienced in vision. 

The manner in which these impressions were received is 
worth noting. When E wished to give the numeral or letter, he 
closed his eyes and usually began by saying, "I see/' etc. Once, 
when 55 was the numeral, he replied to the usual interrogation 
by saying with considerable hesitation, "I see a 5 with something 
before it. I can not make it out. I am certain the number is of 
two figures." At another time the numeral was three — "I see 
an 8. ISTo ! it has changed to a 3." Any numeral ending in 6 
gave him much trouble, as 46 was often read 40, 72, 12, etc. 
Sometimes he would say, "I see a figure but can not make it out. 
It seems to be several in one." When the margin was blank he 
usually saw nothing at first and was very reluctant to answer, 
saying that the figures were slow to come and very dim. C did 
not close his eyes and gave his answers very promptly, but said 
the images rose up in his mind a^ in case of E. 

It will be observed that many of the errors in the table may 
be explained as misreadings by the eye, or such as would be made 
in determining the content of vague memory eye images. 

Another series of experiments was made upon eight college 
students, one of them giving results similar to the earlv tests of 
C and E. Thus we have found three susceptible cases in four- 
teen. So far no attempt has been made to train the less promis- 
ing subjects. 

Strangely enough, if in these experiments, the eye was fixed 
upon the point where the picture was to appear and the atten- 

152 



AND THEIR RELATION TO HYPNOTISM. 

tion given to the indirect field of vision, the letters and numerals 
-on the end of the card were not only invisible but could not be 
given correctlv as in the case of attention directed elsewhere. 
That is to say the necessary conditions of attention are here the 
same as in cases of automatic writing or in double personality. 

The finale to this series of experiments would be the training 
of the hand of the subject to record the marginal letters inde- 
pendently. This is still more difficult and tedious. It has been 
tried with a new subject and, though the results are encourag- 
ing, no certain statement can be made at this time. However, 
these meagre results lend more weight to the idea that we are 
here dealing with the same relations of consciousness that ap- 
pear in an exaggerated form as a secondary personality. 

Sow, let us see what light these results throw upon hypno- 
tism. One of the most striking facts of hypnotism is that com- 
mands given the hypnotic personality are afterwards executed at 
the appointed time by the normal personality. The individual 
denies all knowledge of being so commanded, maintaining that 
the idea of the act was original with him and that it was done 
because of no good reason for not doing it. Here an idea comes 
into consciousness without a trace of relation in time and space to 
other conscious acts. In the case of R, images of numerals rose 
up in consciousness and differed from the images of the pictures 
on the card, in that he was conscious of seeing the latter at a 
given place and at a certain time in relation to his other conscious 
acts, while in case of numerals, he was only conscious of an image 
rising up in mind whose counterpart had no place in his experi- 
ence and for whose presence he can give no explanation save that 
it iust came. In such manner fragmentary memories may be 
taken from the mental series of the hypnotic personality and 
transferred to the normal mental series, free from all old connec- 
tions so that the subject is tricked into accepting it as a new and 
original experience. It is possible that such a method may ac- 
count for many of the ideas that come to normal people, as it 
were, out of the air, but we believe this occurs far less often than 
many writers would lead us to believe. The whole matter of the 
transfer of ideas from a subconscious personality to the conscious, 
or normal, is probably, at bottom, the same process by which we 

J 53 



SOME MANIFESTATIONS OF DOUBLE CONSCIOUSNESS 

go through the common experience of feeling that the clock 
struck a certain hour while we were reading but do not know that 
we heard it strike nor can we even guess what we were doing 
while it did so. The real problem here, however, is to discover 
the mechanism by which this is brought about. This is so far a 
mystery. 

Another cause for popular wonder is the acuteness of the 
senses sometimes observed in the hypnotic state. In the cases 
before mentioned, we see how the secondary personality receives 
impressions from stimuli below the threshold of the normal. 
From these it is not so surprising that in hypnotism, where the 
secondary personality is stimulated to great activity, the eye 
should become extremely acute or the ear exceedingly sharp. 

The inducing of hypnotism by the operator and the training 
of our subjects to bring about exceptional phenomena of con- 
sciousness, all indicate that in such anomalies of personality we 
have an unusual relation of normal tendencies brought about by 
unusual circumstances. But an operator is not essential to these 
circumstances. 

As we have already pointed out the one essential condition for 
the induction of automatic action of any kind is to get the atten- 
tion firmly fixed on something else. It is generally agreed that 
in hypnotism we have a case of extreme concentration of atten- 
tion somewhere to such a degree that the whole normal con- 
sciousness is held at a standstill, producing a condition not unlike 
natural sleep. So every one who can concentrate his attention 
has within him the fundamental possibilities of the various phe- 
nomena of the secondary personality. 

From the experiments reported in this article, it seems possi- 
ble to devise a series of tests for susceptibility of this kind by 
which individuals may be classified for study and practical con- 
siderations. This would enable us to make a more searching in- 
vestigation of the relations between hypnotism and other charac- 
teristics and contribute greatly to our insight into human nature. 
The few experiments of the writer give no idea as to what per- 
centage of people at large, or even of college students, exhibit 
these automatisms, but they are probably more numerous than 
is generally believed. In the regular psycho-physical tests of 

154 



AND THEIR RELATION TO HYPNOTISM. 

students in Columbia College, all are asked if they have ever ex- 
perienced a hallucination, an apparition, heard voices, etc., and 
the written replies contain many accounts of such experiences. 
Most of these heard voices calling them or making suggestions, 
other kinds being rare. Among 300 male students there were 
slightly more than 50 cases of such auditory experiences, ranging 
from single to constant occurrence and in varying degrees of com- 
plexity. Many published reports of hypnotism show that the 
hypnotic personality is in possession of the memory store of the 
secondary personality present in automatic writing and alternat- 
ing consciousness, and there are other facts indicating a similar 
relation between the latter and simple auditory illusions. On the 
other hand, these illusions seem to play a prominent part in cer- 
tain classes of insanity. In view of this, considerations of mental 
health make it desirable to find means for detecting tendencies of 
this sort, and it is not unreasonable to hope that the future will 
give us a working knowledge in this important field. 

Characters on Characters given 

the card. by the subject. 

13 13 or 15 

13 13 

37 17 

27 27 

46 7 

Z ZorX 

( ) (nothing) 

55 25 or 35 

( ) • (nothing) 

( ) (nothing) 

( ) 7 (very doubtful) 

2 6 

( ) 1 

Y 7 

P ., P 

(' ) • o . (nothing) 

P K 

( ) .000,0= (nothing) 

75 ...... 15 

H OOOC o C , H 

155 



SUGGESTIBILITY. 

By JOHN W. SLAUGHTER, A. B., B. D., University of Michigan. 

The topic receives its significance from the fact that sugges- 
tion is by far the most notable of the phenomena seen in hypno- 
tism, also that its investigation is necessary to any kind of theo- 
retical explanation. So many of the superstitions associated with 
abnormal psychic phenomena and long fostered under a respecta- 
ble guise by various "Societies for Psychical Kesearch," have 
been cleared away in late years, that we are at last in a position 
to investigate them along scientific lines. In order to do this, we 
must exclude any attempt at explanation based on the unknown 
or occult, and with the safeguard of scientific incredulity, pro- 
ceed on the basis of the meagre but demonstrated facts at our 
disposal. The term "suggestion" means more than anything else, 
the clearing away of a long list of mysterious influences, and 
even to-day some of the old associations are attached to the word 
as may readily be seen from the book by Schmidkung and, per- 
haps in lesser degree, that of Sidis. But using the term in its 
entirely legitimate sense, however useful it may be in covering a 
certain group of facts, as attested by the excellent work of Bern- 
heim, still it has for the psychologist little or no meaning. Only 
in proportion to a proper understanding of the facts upon which 
suggestion as a process rests, does it attain psychological value. 
These facts may be covered by the general term suggestibility, 
and it is our purpose to give a brief sketch of them on the basis 
of our present knowledge. 

Theories attempting an explanation of the processes have 
been offered by various writers. As chief among those who at- 
tempt a purely physiological explanation may be mentioned 
Forel and Lehmann. The former of these* regards the mental 
life as having at its foundation a combination of separable brain 
forces, one of which corresponds to consciousness. For him sug- 
gestibility means the ability to break up the normal inter-con- 

*Der Hypnotismus. 



SUGGESTIBILITY. 

nections of these forces, and the formation of new, at the instiga- 
tion of the suggesting agent. In opposition tc this theory we 
may urge (1) that the only connections we know are those be- 
tween psychical elements, that is, ideas, and (2) that such an 
appeal to suppositious brain forces, about which the physiologist 
knows nothing, is a clear violation of scientific method. 

Lehmann proceeds from the partially known facts regarding 
the vasomotor control of blood in the brain, and makes suggesti- 
bility depend upon the variable supply in the different brain cen- 
ters. His difficulty is that he makes what may possibly be re- 
garded as a parallel physiological process the sole cause of the 
condition. 

The only purely psychological theory, so far as I am aware, 
is that of Pierre Janet 1 and Max Dessoir, 2 incorporated by Moll 
in his, in many respects very same book, 3 the theory of the so- 
called ''double consciousness." According to this view, there are 
two forms of consciousness, an "over" and an "under" conscious- 
ness, in the normal -mind. The existence of the "under" con- 
sciousness is supposed to be proved by such facts as the sudden 
coming in of a name which we have tried in vain to recall, dream 
consciousness, the memory during hypnosis of a like previous 
state, the carrying out of a post-hypnotic suggestion, etc. Sug- 
gestibility means in this case the capability of exciting this lower 
consciousness and the carrying over of the excited part into the 
higher consciousness. We may say in opposition to this view (1) 
that introspection, our only legitimate guide here, discovers to us 
only one kind of consciousness. (2) This "under" consciousness, 
as the depository of elements of a jack-in-the-box character, gives 
us a problem in retention and recall, and not in the ultimate 
nature of consciousness. 

The primary fact from which we must start is that conscious- 
ness is not a homogeneous unity, but falls under analysis into 
more or less distinct divisions. Of these, certain ones as sensa- 
tions and ideas, can be traced with considerable facility, perhaps 
because of their partial abstractness. The more complex divisions 
present themselves as groups of ideas held together by what are 

1. Revue Philosophique, XXIL, p. 577. 2. Das Doppel-Ich. 3. Der Hyp- 
notismus. 

157 



SUGGESTIBILITY. 

called associative and apperceptive connections. These groups 
are permanent in proportion, to the closeness of the internal con- 
nections. Consciousness as a whole, reacting through the process 
of attention upon any particular group, gives to it, or apparently 
discovers in it, a certain degree of self-dependence and distinct- 
ness. What we mean when speaking of the normal mind 
is, that each group has its relative strength or significance 
in consciousness, and, resulting from this, a certain de- 
gree of facility in associating itself with and passing over into 
other groups. In many pathological states and in hypnosis, un- 
due significance is given to one or more groups, resulting, in the 
first case, in fixed ideas or insane delusions, and, in the latter case, 
a narrowed consciousness and cramped attention which gives to 
the group complete dominance for the time being. The excita- 
tion of such a group is all that can be meant by suggestion in 
hypnosis. 

What are we to conclude then in regard to suggestibility? 
(1) That no fact is included in the term of such unusual signifi- 
cance that it must lead to a revision of the ordinary well- 
grounded psychological views. This is the mistake of most theo- 
rists along this line. (2) As the term has hitherto been employed, 
it applies to the excitation of a part of consciousness. (3) That 
there is no difference in kind between suggestibility in normal 
and in hypnotic states. There is the same process of sensory 
excitation and the same supplementation through the association 
of ideas. The question why consciousness is narrowed in such a 
way as to give dominance to a particular group is the problem for 
the general theory of hypnotism. This narrowing of conscious- 
ness, however, has some very important effects upon the degree 
of suggestibility, which should be mentioned. (1) As was stated 
above, suggestion is the excitation of a part of consciousness. The 
general rule may be stated that in proportion as consciousness 
becomes narrowed down to some particular group, the excitabil- 
ity of this group, and so suggestibility, increases. (2) Another 
general rule is that in proportion as the excitability of any par- 
ticular group increases, the excitability of other and especially 
opposing groups decreases. This may be seen in the anaesthesia 
and catalepsy of hypnosis. (3) The attitude of the attention in 

158 



SUGGESTIBILITY. 

expectation is very imperfectly understood, but, whatever it may 
be, it is closely related to the two above mentioned facts, and 
plays an important part in suggestibility. One of the peculiar 
aspects of the hypnotic condition is a certain readiness in the re~ 
ceptivity of any stimulus, and the apparent indifference in the 
effect as to what particular group shall become dominant. (4) 
Another important question in hypnotic suggestibility is that of 
rapport. From the standpoint of psychology all we can say is, 
that the i^.ea of the hypnotizer is, from the beginning of the con- 
dition, the dominant element in the consciousness of the subject, 
and forms the starting point from which the excitation of other 
groups goes out. 



i59 



DOUBLE AND MULTIPLE IDENTITY. 

By ALICE HAMLIN HINMAN, A. B., Ph. D., University of Nebraska. 

One of the most striking and familiar facts in ordinary hyp- 
nosis is the complete and dramatic change of personality on the 
part of the hypnotized subject at the command of the hypnotizer. 
Even an ignorant person and one who in ordinary circumstances 
possesses no dramatic ability whatever, may impersonate any 
character suggested by the hypnotizer, with great vividness and 
freedom. Under the influence of suggestion he apparently loses 
all sense of his own identity, and speaks, moves, and acts in every 
way like the lovesick swain or anxious parent whom he believes 
himself to be. In the minds of many who know nothing of the 
nature of hypnosis, such changes of identity arouse a superstitious 
fear of hypnotism. It becomes a source of fascination, or of hor- 
ror to them in very much the way in which witchcraft appealed 
to the imagination of the world three centuries ago. It is not the 
purpose of the present brief chapter to describe any special cases 
of multiple identity in hypnosis. Instances will doubtless be 
given in other chapters of this work, and the classic cases of Ansel 
Bourne, Leonie, Lucie, and Felida X, are recorded in every pop- 
ular work on hypnotism. Our object is rather to inquire into the 
nature of these instances, and to present in brief the explanation 
offered by the sanest psychology of the day. 

To the psychologist the explanation of the strange phenomena 
of hypnotism, and of every abnormal form of mental life, is to be 
found in the study of the ordinary workings of the normal mind. 
Professor Ladd of Yale has expressed our standpoint in saying, 
"As in the case of the insane, so in the case of the hypnotic. Be- 
tween the wildest vagaries of a pathological sort and the most reg- 
ular operations of the sanest mind, it is possible to interpolate an 
innumerable series of gradations so as to shade up or shade down 
from one into the other."* To understand, then, the personalities 
of the hypnotic subject we must consider in the first place the 

*Ladd, Philosophy of Mind, p. 167. 

1 60 



DOUBLE AND MULTIPLE IDENTITY. 

nature of our ordinary consciousness of self, and then notice the 
series of variations in our own identity, leading up to the phases 
observed in hypnosis. 

An early idea of self is evidently an idea of our bodily selves. 
"We have focused attention upon certain "warm and intimate" 
sensations, and have distinguished this group from all others. 
The entire living body with its keen pleasures and pains, its im- 
pulses and desires, its mobility, its vague masses of inner organic 
sensations, becomes our self, separate and distinct from all ob- 
jective experience. "With growing intelligence we include in our 
knowledge of self the memory of a vast number of past events 
and the thought of many circumstances bearing no immediate 
reference to our bodies. Our self is now to some extent a descrip- 
tive history of our past and present. The idea becomes a great or- 
ganic system of ideas, and the more widely we extend its content, 
the more abstract becomes the idea which serves as a nucleus to 
the whole system. In just the same way that we ascribe certain 
groups of sensations to "things" that exist and possess these 
properties, so our very complex group of subjective experiences 
is inevitably referred to a self that really exists and to which, 
through memory and self-consciousness, they all belong. As 
intelligence becomes more and more reflective it grasps more 
fully the idea of a permanent self as the center, the owner, and 
in a sense the creator of all that belongs to one individual con- 
sciousness. 

We need not enlarge this account of the knowledge of self 
since it is one already generally well known. Let us pass on to 
notice the striking variations in the idea that are to be found in 
ordinary experience. Among the lesser modifications are those 
observed after a sudden and overwhelming change in circum- 
stances. The instance most often cited is the one so humorously 
presented by Shakespeare in "The Taming of the Shrew." Chris- 
topher Sly, the tinker, is not at all sure that it is himself whom 
he finds attired in the rich robes of a noble. "I smell sweet savors 
and I feel soft things. Upon my life, I am a lord indeed." How 
often we hear the phrases, "He was not himself at the time," 
"He is a different man" or "T hardly knew myself." Sudden 
illness, the loss of family or property or position, or the entrance 

161 



DOUBLE AND MULTIPLE IDENTITY. 

into any entirely new scenes and conditions of life will call forth 
such comments. But in all these alterations there is no real loss 
of personal identity. In spite of the startling changes, one clings 
perhaps all the more intensely, to memory and consciousness of 
the same self. 

We must look further for instances in normal life of at least 
a temporary loss of personal identity. Such instances are com- 
mon enough. We find them in the play of children, the actor, 
the musician, the author, the prophet and the priest. The little 
girl playing with her doll is first the mother and then the child. 
The small boy playing school is first the stern teacher and then 
the meek pupil. The great actor, too, at least in some stage of his 
study of a part, finds himself transferred completely to the char- 
acter he is presenting. Many authors, for example, Thackeray, 
Dickens and Balzac, at times temporarily merge their own per- 
sonality in that of some vivid character of their own creation. 

A yet more striking class of instances of a temporary loss of 
personal identity, and one common to most men, is found in 
dream life. Here almost everyone occasionally becomes someone 
else. And it often happens that the "I" of a single, clear and 
coherent dream is one person early in the dream and another 
person later in the same dream. Identity seems to shift as the 
center of interest shifts from one character to another. Those 
who have paid any attention to their own dreams are often 
astonished by the ways in which they surpass or contradict their 
OAvn characters in their dreams. A young student of French 
noticed with surprise that when he dreamed of speaking French 
in his own person he spoke no more correctly than in his waking 
hours; but when he dreamed that he had become a Frenchman 
his accent and language were far superior to those of his waking 
self. Upon rousing from his dream he jotted down certain 
phrases that had fallen from the lips of his French self, and 
found that they were good idiomatic French expressions, al- 
though hitherto no part of his own vocabulary. The thoroughly 
upright man dreams of being a cheat, a thief and a murderer. 
The fastidious, refined woman dreams of being a swearing sea- 
man, glibly using the coarsest profanity, and so on. 



162 



DOUBLE AND MULTIPLE IDENTITY. 

But the deepest and most fundamental line of cleavage in 
consciousness is its division into the sub-conscious and the clearly 
known self. Psychology recognizes to-day that no consciousness 
is single; in its very nature consciousness is double or multiple. 
The self we all think of when the word is first used is but a small 
part of ourselves. We may compare it with the spot of clearest 
vision in our field of sight. Just as the eye can focus on only 
one small spot at a time, so the recognized self is but a small spot 
in general consciousness. And as the unnoticed background has 
an immense influence on the objects clearly perceived, so, too. 
the unnoticed background of consciousness has an immeasureable 
effect on that which is clearly perceived. As life develops, more 
and more of the experiences that at first claimed attention, pass 
over into the unnoticed background. In this unregarded field 
lies what we call the unobserved tendencies or trends of life, 
the essence of temperament and tact, blind impulse and instinct, 
mechanical and automatic acts of every kind. 

It would be hard to overestimate the scope and force of this 
under-consciousness. To take only one or two typical illustra- 
tions : Notice that a musician has only to see in what scale a com- 
position is written to let his fingers fall without any further 
attention upon the notes of that scale. Anyone who speaks in a 
foreign language, after once having started a sentence in that 
tongue, pays no further attention, as a rule, to the need for 
avoiding words in his native tongue. He is in touch with a for- 
eign background and that supplies him with words and phrases 
of its own order. The greater part, and sometimes the very best 
of life's work is accomplished through the agency of this back- 
ground of consciousness. 

To what we have figuratively called a "background," psy- 
chologists have assigned many names, referring to it as a psychic- 
al automatism, a sub-conscious self, a subliminal consciousness, 
a subjective mind, etc. The last term seems to the writer to be 
a very objectionable one: for the sub-conscious activity is an 
integral characteristic of every mind and of all mental action in 
varying degree, and it is absurd to ref e» to this phase as if it were 
a separate mind. 



163 



DOUBLE AND MULTIPLE IDENTITY. 

It is true, however, that at times the attentive, reflective, 
clearly identified self seems to slip away from the scene of action, 
leaving open space for the sub-conscious activity. Another iden- 
tity than the one we recognize as our own, seems to take posses- 
sion of the scene. The artist, seer, or prophet is caught up into 
a state of ecstacy in which another than himself seems to speak 
and work through him. The most thorough systems of modern 
psychology, from Wundt down, emphasize these facts as part of 
our normal experience and point out, to use Professor Ladd's 
words, that "it may well be that so-called 'single' consciousness, 
in its most normal form, always conceals and indeed, as it were, 
is made up of double (and even multiple) consciousness, in some 
valid meaning of those words. The explanation of double con- 
sciousness, when the facts are in and the explanation is made, 
will be found in the extension rather than the reversal of princi- 
ples, already known to apply to the normal activity of body and 
mind."* 

Noav, if the psychologists are right who maintain such a view 
of ordinary consciousness^ how do they account for the fact that 
mankind have generally ignored their multifold identities under 
common circumstances, and yet have recognized the multiplicity 
at once in the insane and the hypnotized? The full answer to 
this question would be a long story, and we can only briefly indi- 
cate its trend. The whole difference turns upon the continuance 
cf memory and tie return of self-consciousness. 

Notice, first, the importance of a continuance of memory. 
While we dream we may not remember our waking selves, but 
when we wake memory holds over and we look back upon our- 
selves both in the dream and before the dream. Paul is not 
classed among the insane because he speaks of being "caught up 
into the third heaven," whether in the body or out of the body, I 
know not. Upon his return to his common self, memory bridged 
over the sudden change. 

P>ut the objection will at once be raised that sometimes in 
insanity, and often in hypnosis, an accurate memory of one's past 
is letained, and yet there is no recognition of the old identity. 
Nov/, there are two causes which prevent the return of conscious- 

*Ladd, Philosophy of Mind, p. 168. 

164 



DOUBLE AND MULTIPLE IDENTITY. 

ness in these instances, one mainly physiological, the other psy- 
chological. When the organic sensations are suddenly and vio- 
lently changed it is difficult for even the strongest mind to retain 
its equilibrium. We pointed out early in this chapter that sensa- 
tions from within the body form the early idea of self, and 
they always retain an important place. If serious disturbances 
continue, the mind almost surely yields to the strain, and tempo- 
rary or permanent insanity sets in. The more purely psycho- 
logical cause for the loss of identity without the loss of memory is 
especially operative in hypnosis. A vivid suggestion is received 
either directly from the command of the hypnotizer or indirectly 
from the subject's preconception that the hypnotizer expects 
such a change. The strongly-suggested idea is the nucleus for a 
new system of ideas which displaces or usurps the central group 
of the normal system. Of course, both in hypnosis and in insan- 
ity, physiological disturbances and suggested ideas may work 
together, each reinforcing the other's influence. 

The foregoing discussion of the nature of our consciousness 
of personal identity, and of the approaches in ordinary experi- 
ence to the peculiar phases of hypnotism may seem to some an 
attempt to explain away the wonderful changes observed. Ex- 
actly the reverse is true. The conservative standpoint is often 
misrepresented as one of hidebound prejudice and of obstinate 
blindness to the marvels of abnormal experience, whereas it is 
really seeking all the time to open the eyes of the world to the 
greater marvels inherent in the common everyday consciousness 
for which the world has small respect or interest. The most im- 
pressive teaching of a thoughtful psychology is its insight into 
the hitherto undreamed of depths of consciousness, out of which, 
arises the commonly recognized self. 

In the attempt to suggest a cause or origin for the variations 
in identity, many theories have been set afloat that cover only 
a part of the facts. The theories of the automatic functioning 
of the lower brain centers or of "unconscious cerebration" ignore 
the fact that we have entirely satisfactory evidence of the pres- 
ence of consciousness. When, again, the phenomena are all 
classed as instances of morbid disassociation, the theory fails to 
do justice to the high degree of constructive work sometimes 

165 



DOUBLE AND MULTIPLE IDENTITY. 

accomplished by the secondary consciousness. A wider and more 
inclusive study of the subject has been one of the results of the 
London Society for Psychical Research, and we bring our own 
discussion to a close with a very brief reference to the writings 
of two members of that society, Mr. F. W. H. Meyers and Mr. 
Podmore. 

In his paper on the Subliminal Consciousness, Mr. Meyers 
has given us his mass of evidence and his own conclusions. His 
explanatory theories are rather imaginative, and go beyond his- 
facts into mere conjecture, yet they command attention as the 
speculations of one who has made an elaborate investigation of 
the facts. Mr. Myers writes, "I accord no primary to my ordi- 
nary waking self except that, among many potential selves, this 
one has shown itself fitted to meet the needs of common life. 
There is in each of us an abiding psychical entity far more ex- 
tensive than he knows. This subliminal consciousness may em- 
brace a far wider range of activity, extending on the one side to 
psychological processes which have long dropped out of human 
knowledge, on the other to certain supernormal faculties (tele- 
pathy, clairvoyance, prevision), of which only stray hints have 
reached us, in our present stage of evolution."* 

While Mr. Meyers evidently believes that the human mind 
can transcend time and space and the laws of the physical world, 
Mr. Podmore is more conservative. In his studies in Psychical 
Research, p. 413, seq. he writes, "It is held by some that in the 
hypnotic state we have a prophecy of the future endowments of 
the race. But it seems more probable that these abnormal con- 
ditions are not a prophecy but a survival. In the hurry and 
stress of living, it may be suggested, we have had to drop articles 
of luxury, as the keen scent, the telescopic eye, the unerring 
sense of direction, which served primeval man. For the pres- 
sure upon the area of our working consciousness is great and its 
capacity limited. Year by year ideas and. sensations once vivid 
grow fainter, and finally pass unregarded. When the nature of 
the process and the results which attend it are more clearly recog- 
nized, we may find it possible to recover something of these waste 
products and thus enrich our workaday selves. But as yet we 

*Proc. S. P. R. vol. VII. p. 301, seq. 

166 



DOUBLE AND MULTIPLE IDENTITY. 

seem to have found in the subliminal consciousness no certain 
indication of any knowledge or faculties which have not at some- 
time played a part in the primary field. We come across memo- 
ries of childhood, and many old forgotten things; we discover 
what seem to he traces of long lost but serviceable faculties, — ■ 
telepathy, sense of time, of direction, of right, — we acquire partial 
control over bodily functions — digestion, circulation, and the 
like, — which civilized man has learned to acquiesce in as beyond 
his guidance. But in all this we only resume possession of our 
own. And we have as yet, I submit, no sufficient evidence of 
anything beyond that." 

Every student of the depths of self-consciousness finds that 
the deeper study reveals the superficial and ephemeral character 
of the view of personal identity with which we start out. More 
and more clearly we perceive within ourselves the double and 
multiple selves, potential in the wider scope of mental life. And 
yet, in our final analysis, we must find that the multiple identi- 
ties have more to unite than to separate them. Wherever mem- 
ory and self consciousness hold over or revive, we shall have one 
self and not many. W^e see the possibilities open to an intelli- 
gence with memory and perception far superior to our own. 
Such a mind would, take up all that seems to us to belong to other 
personalities into a larger, richer single identity, as clearlv one 
as the crude idea with which we started on our research, but 
vastly more complex and inclusive. 



167 



EXTRA PERSONAL CONTROL IN HYPNOSIS. 

By POWELL DENTON REYNOLDS, D. D., West Va. University. 

Psychosis is mental activity. Any state of consciousness or 
mental process is a psychosis. Strictly, the activity is the psycho- 
sis. The term is sometimes used to designate the product of the 
activity. 

Hypnotic, or extra-personal, control is the control of the psy- 
choses of the hypnotized subject by the hypnotist. The hypno- 
tist determines the mental activity of the subject, and so deter- 
mines his states of consciousness and mental processes. 

Unless the psychoses of the subject are determined by the 
hypnotist, there is no true hypnotic control. Reflex action is 
action without psychosis. That is, it is not originated and di- 
rected by psychosis. The actor may be conscious of the action, 
and even attentive to it. He may even wish and strive to inhibit 
it. Still it is not intentional — personally controlled — and is, 
therefore, strictly reflex. The hypnotist may originate and direct 
the action by applying the necessary stimulus. In this way he 
controls the action, but the control is not hypnotic control, be- 
cause it is not accomplished by controlling the psychosis of the 
subject. 

What is the explanation of hypnotic, or extra-personal, con- 
trol? How does the hypnotist determine the psychosis of the 
hypnotized subject? The aim of this discussion is to contribute 
something towards an answer to this question. 

Neurosis is nervous excitation or activity produced by stimu- 
lus. Normal, or ordinary, neuroses consist of, are produced by, 
stimulation, excitation, activity, of sensory terminals, or end 
organs; of conducting fibres, both afferent and efferent, and of 
nerve centers. 

Sub-cerebral neurosis is without psychosis. Cerebral, or cor- 
tical, neurosis produces psychosis, or accompanies psychosis, or is 
produced by psychosis. Investigation and experiment have 
established the fact, apparently, that there is no psychosis with- 
out neurosis — without cerebral neurosis. Every neurosis pro- 

168 



EXTRA PERSONAL CONTROL IN HYPNOTISM. 

duces, or tends to produce — in a normal, complete nervous sys- 
tem, will produce — its appropriate psychosis. Conversely, it is 
almost certain that every psychosis produces, or tends to produce, 
further neurosis. There is, or is a tendency to, a cycle of neu- 
rosis and psychosis, accomplished in a complete nervous system 
acting normally. 

If the relation of neurosis to psychosis, and vice versa, ha9 
been correctly stated, the hypnotist, in order to control the psy- 
choses of the subject, must control the neuroses of the subject. 
He must control the neuroses that control the psychoses de- 
termined. At least, he must control that neurosis that con- 
trols the primary, or initial, psychosis that will produce other 
psychoses normally by producing the normal, or necessary 
neurosis. If the hypnotist can control the neuroses of the sub- 
ject — can produce the appropriate neuroses — he can control the 
psychoses — can control them to the exact extent that he can 
control the neuroses. Thus, true hypnotic, or extra-personal, 
control is by control of neurosis. It is by control of the neurosis 
that produce the psychoses. Otherwise the result is reflex only, 
and the control is not hypnotic. 

Hypnosis is a state or condition of the nervous system, or of 
some part of it, which, while it continues, destroys or suspends 
self-control of the psychoses — and, consequently, of the voluntary 
action — of the subject, and subjects him to extra-personal con- 
trol. In hypnosis the neuroses of the subject, or such of them 
as produce, directly or indirectly, the determined psychoses, are 
controlled by the hypnotist. 

What the nervous state called hypnosis is — how the methods 
employed by the hypnotist to produce it operate physiologically 
to produce it — to what extent the nervous system is, or may be $ 
brought into this state — the special and general effects physio- 
logically of hypnosis, etc., etc. — cannot be discussed here. The 
matter for consideration is the control exercised by the hypno- 
tist over the psychoses of the subject. 

The hypnotist induces hypnosis by controlling or directing 
the attention of the subject. The control and direction of the at- 
tention seems to be wholly surrendered to the hypnotist. If the 
attention is wholly surrendered, the hypnosis is complete. Or, if 

169 



EXTRA PERSONAL CONTROL IN HYPNOTISM. 

the hypnosis is complete, the attention is wholly surrendered. 
The methods and mental processes used by the hypnotist, in 
inducing hypnosis, are to secure this concentration and surrender 
of attention. 

This "surrender" of attention — control of the attention of 
the subject by the hypnotist — is the secret of hypnotic control, 
is the essence of it. It is the key to the explanation of hypnotic 
control. All extra-personal control of psychosis in hypnosis 
comes from the control of neurosis made possible by this control 
of attention. In fact, the attention of the subject is the psychosis 
controlled by the hypnotist as a hypnotist. All the other neuro- 
ses, and, so, psychoses, that occur in hypnosis are normally pro- 
duced — produced as the subject produces them by self-control, 
or as they are determined for him out of hypnosis. If there are 
variations from the normal, or usual, action of the nervous sys- 
tem, they are due to special, or unusual, conditions that result 
from the unusual nervous condition called hypnosis, or from the 
effects of the methods used to induce hypnosis. The concentra- 
tion or "surrender" of attention is the neural, or, what is the 
same thing, the psychic, condition of susceptibility to suggestion, 
by which the hypnotist controls as a hypnotist. The truth of 
this will appear more fully farther along. 

Hypnotic, or extra-personal control extends to volition, or 
voluntary action, feeling, sensation and perception. The hypno- 
tized subject wills to do what the hypnotist commands, or sug- 
gests that he do. He can do what the hypnotist suggests that he 
can do. He cannot do what the hypnotist suggests he cannot do. 
He feels as the hypnotist suggests that he feels. He perceives 
what the hypnotist suggests he perceives. In the case of control 
of action, the hypnotist must control the neuroses that control 
the nerve centers of action. In the case of the control of feeling, 
he must control the neurosis that produces the feeling. In the 
case of control of sensation and perception, he must control the 
neuroses that determine sensation and perception. If it is true 
that there is no psychosis without neurosis, and that every psycho- 
sis has its appropriate neurosis, the hypnotist can control volition, 
feeling, sensation and perception only by controlling the neu- 
roses that produce these psychoses. 

170 



EXTRA PERSONAL CONTROL IN HYPNOSIS. 

In all these — action, or, more properly, volition that deter- 
mines action, — feeling, sensation and perception, — the control 
exercised by the hypnotist is through the imagination of the sub- 
ject — through ideas. The hypnotist controls these psychoses of 
the subject because he determines what ideas the subject shall 
have. He determines what ideas the subject shall have througli 
control of the attention of the subject. He controls the attention 
of the subject, and the psychoses occur precisely as if his atten- 
tion were personally controlled, or were controlled, by circum- 
stances independent of the will or action of the hypnotist. 

True hypnotic control is primarily the control of the ideas, 
or imagination, of the hypnotized subject, through control of his 
attention. The psychoses of volition, feeling, sensation and per- 
ception are controlled in hypnosis by determining the imagina- 
tion of the hypnotized subject. This is the thesis to be estab- 
lished by this discussion. 

Whether or not neurosis produces psychosis depends upon 
attention. Neurosis may be complete — neural excitation, action 
and reaction may go on — without consciousness, without real 
mental activity — without true psychosis. This is because the 
neurosis does not extend to the "seat of consciousness" — that is, 
to the excitation or reaction of the center, or centers, whose 
excitation or reaction produces consciousness. That there is such 
a center, or are such centers, and that activity of this center o* 
of these centers, is necessary to — takes place in — consciousness, 
will not be disputed by those who hold to the necessary relation 
between neurosis and psychosis. Or, if it is insisted that the activ- 
ity of cortical centers always and necessarily, of itself, produces 
consciousness, it is still true that psychosis depends upon atten- 
tion. It is true, also, that the degree or intensity of consciousness 
and, what is the same thing, the degree or intensity of the psy- 
chosis is in proportion, normally, to the degree or intensity of 
attention, within limits. Illustrations of this are too numerous 
and too obvious to need citation. 

From the relation of attention to consciousness — to psycho- 
sis — it follows that control of attention gives control of con- 
sciousness — of psychosis. That is, control cf attention deter- 
mines whether or not neurosis shall produce psychosis or what 



EXTRA PERSONAL CONTROL IN HYPNOSIS. 

neurosis shall produce psychosis. That is — and this is what is 
pertinent in this discussion — control of attention determines the 
ideas, the imagination, of the person whose attention is con- 
trolled. The hypnotist controls the attention of the hypnotized 
subject, and so controls his psychoses to the extent of determin- 
ing his imagination, his ideas. In this there is nothing abnormal 
or unusual, except the abnormal or unusual control of attention, 
or more correctly, perhaps, the abnormal or unusual means em- 
ployed by the hypnotist to get control of the attention. 

It remains to be shown that the control of the imagination 
or ideas of the hypnotized subject by the hypnotist is competent 
to give him the control which he exercises over the action, feel- 
ings, sensations and perceptions of the subject. 

True hypnotic control is the control of voluntary action. 
This is only apparently paradoxical or contradictory, as will ap- 
pear presently, when the real distinction between reflex and vol- 
untary action is considered. 

Pure reflex action is without psychosis. It is without con- 
sciousness, and so is necessarily without personal control. It may 
be said to be under sub-personal control. It rises from and de- 
pends upon the excitation and reaction of the appropriate nerve 
centers, as in voluntary action. But the actor has nothing to do 
consciously with applying the stimulus or with directing or con- 
trolling the reaction. He, therefore, does not direct or control 
the resulting action. The action may be controlled by another 
by use of the appropriate stimulus, as a piece of machinery is 
worked by the appropriate manipulation. 

Hypnosis may go to the extent of rendering all action of the 
subject reflex. The hypnotist, in a sense, controls the action of 
the subject. But the control is not true hypnotic control, because 
it is not exercised through ideas, through psychosis at all. It is 
control of the same kind as that exercised by an experimenter 
when, by applying stimulus to the sensory terminals of the nerv- 
ous system of a frog deprived of its cerebrum, he determines the 
action of the frog. 

Action may be with consciousness and much attention and 
still be reflex, or without personal control. The actor loes not 
control the stimulation, or direct or inhibit the reaction, although 

172 



EXTRA PERSONAL CONTROL IN HYPNOSIS. 

he is fully conscious of, and intensely attentive to, the stimula- 
tion, reaction and resulting action. 

Hypnosis may go to this extent. The subject is conscious 
and attentive but passive. The hypnotist controls the action of 
the subject in the same way in which he controls it in the ab- 
sence of consciousness — of psychosis. But such control is not 
hypnotic control. It is not exercised through control of the 
ideas, or imagination, of the subject. 

Habitual action is action originally personally controlled, but 
has become reflex, or semi-reflex. Originally it was performed 
from purpose, through the direction and control of the excitation 
and reaction of appropriate centers. It is semi-reflex in the 
minimum of attention to the idea which arouses the neurosis that 
leads to the excitation and activity of the nerve centers produc- 
ing the action. The connection, or succession, so to speak, of neu- 
roses has been so well established by exercise that, the initial 
impulse, however slight and brief, being given, the neuroses 
follow without control — even without attention. There is even 
a tendency to follow in spite of control. In fact, they often do 
follow in spite of efforts to control. The acquired facility is so 
great that it overcomes ordinary inhibition — counteracting neu- 
roses. 

In hypnosis the hypnotist controls action of the subject which 
is habitual, by determining the initial neurosis. This is deter- 
mined by determining the idea that arouses the initial neurosis. 
So far as the hypnotist controls the idea that arouses the initial 
neurosis the control is true hypnotic control — is exercised by 
determining to this extent the psychosis of the subject. 

Impulsive action is with consciousness. It arises from idea. 
So far as it comes without idea, it is reflex. The idea arousing 
it is original, or spontaneous. That is, it depends upon the na- 
ture of the organism — upon the neuroses that spontaneously or 
naturally follow stimulation and the psychoses that spontaneously 
or naturally follow the neuroses, and is without reflection — with- 
out the influence of other ideas that might rise upon reflection. 
The idea is so intense — excites neurosis so prompt and intense — 
that the connected neuroses follow so promptly and vigorously 

173 



EXTRA PERSONAL CONTROL IN HYPNOSIS. 

as to leave no time or energy for inhibiting ideas or counteracting 
neuroses. 

In hypnosis the hypnotist controls the impulsive action of the 
subject by determining the initial neurosis. This is determined 
by determining the idea that excites the initial neurosis. The 
action will follow according to the temperament and habits of the 
subject. The control is hypnotic control so far as it governs the 
idea that arouses the initial neurosis. 

Voluntary action is personally controlled action. It is inten- 
tional, or willed, action. This distinguishes action that is truly — 
actively — voluntary from that which is sometimes called volun- 
tary but is only passively voluntary-^-that is, is permitted, not 
willed or controlled by the actor. 

Voluntary action is determined by idea. The purpose to be 
accomplished is an idea to be realized, and is the idea that deter- 
mines the action. According to the idea, the actor governs the 
neuroses that produce the intended action, by stimulation, direc- 
tion and inhibition — by exciting the appropriate neuroses. 

In hypnosis the hypnotist controls the voluntary action of the 
subject by determining his idea — his purpose. When he deter- 
mines this idea, he "touches the button," so to speak, and the 
actor does the rest, with the usual machinery and in the usual 
way, as if he had himself determined the idea, or initial neurosis. 

Voluntary action includes voluntary psychosis — personally 
determined or controlled states of consciousness and mental pro- 
cesses. To control psychoses, the neuroses producing these psy- 
choses must be controlled. But there must be an initial, or orig- 
inal, neurosis back of, or under, or preceding, all, such as cannot 
be controlled, or personally determined. There is no neurosis 
7nore original or primary with which to control it. "Without such 
primary neurosis there is no starting point. This original neu- 
rosis is according to the nature of the organism — that is, it is de- 
termined by the stimulus afforded by the environmpnt. It is, 
or furnishes, the psychosis constituting the idea that is the con- 
trolling factor in all voluntary action and voluntary psychosis. 
This idea being produced, the rest follows. If the idea is suffi- 
ciently "strong" it will control the neuroses. It will be "strong" 

i74 



EXTEA PERSONAL CONTROL IN HYPNOSIS. 

in proportion to its exclusiveness, and this will be according to 
the degree of attention it obtains or creates. If it is wholly ex- 
clusive — monopolizes the attention — it will control all neuroses 
absolutely that are, strictly speaking, under control at all — those 
directly producing psychoses and those that indirectly produce 
action through psychosis. 

In hypnosis the hypnotist has control of the ideas of the sub- 
ject. The characteristic of hypnosis is that it gives the hypnotist 
this control, and so gives him control of the psychoses, and so of 
the voluntary actions, of the subject. Hypnosis gives the hyp- 
notist control of the attention of the subject. Control of atten- 
tion will give control of ideas, with all of the consequences of 
such domination, as well out of hypnosis as in it, or with it. In 
hypnotic control, the law of psychosis and action operates as 
usual. The one characteristic condition is not unnatural but 
simply unusual. 

The fundamental principle of hypnotic, or extra-personal, 
control, is that attention may be so concentrated that stimulus 
does not produce neurosis, or neurosis does not produce psycho- 
sis. Either cerebral centers are so preoccupied, so to speak, that 
stimulus cannot find entrance, or energy is so monopolized that 
neurosis does not occur. Instances, or proofs, of the fact that at- 
tention determines psychosis in this way are numerous, but can- 
not be cited here. 

Re very, abstraction, dreaming, somnambulism, certain spe- 
cies of insanity, are all to some extent explained by the law of 
control of psychosis and action through idea, through attention, 
and illustrate and confirm the proposition that hypnotic control 
is control of psychosis through idea, through attention. 

The control of the sensations of the subject by the hypnotist 
in hypnosis, is, as in the case of control of action, through ideas 
or the imagination. Psychosis produces or modifies neurosis. 
Ideas, or imagination, determine, to some extent at least, the 
psychic result of stimulus upon sensory terminals, or end organs. 
This must be through the effect of the psychosis upon the sen- 
sory terminals, or end organs, or upon the neurosis of the cerebral 
center reacting upon the excitation of sensory terminal, or end 

i75 



EXTRA PERSONAL CONTROL IN HYPNOSIS. 

organ. Ideas excite hunger, thirst, passion, etc., which shows 
that psychosis does produce, or affect, neurosis, and is sufficient 
to account for the arrested or perverted sensations of the subject 
through the suggestion of the hypnotist. 

Perception depends upon — is organized from — sensation. In 
hypnosis perception is determined by sensation in the normal 
way. Sensations are interpreted in the usual way, although they 
have been "perverted" by the idea or imagination. The hyp- 
notist controls the perceptions of the subject by determining the 
ideas that control his sensations. 

Emotions normally arise from ideas. This is true, whether 
bodily action, or what is the same thing, neurosis, produces the 
feeling, or the feeling produces the neurosis. In hypnosis the 
hypnotist controls the emotions of the subject by determining the 
ideas that excite these emotions. He determines these ideas by 
determining the perceptions, as explained above, or by suggesting 
the idea of these perceptions. Indeed, ordinarily, one controls 
the emotions of another — arouses them, intensifies them, allays 
them — by influencing or controlling the ideas of the other, either 
by objects or other ideas. Really, every case of "surrender" of 
attention sufficient to secure passive reception of ideas is incipient 
or partial hypnosis. Control of the emotions, and consequent 
control of the actions, of the subject, is the easiest, most natural 
work of the hypnotist. 

Pain, as is well known, may be induced in organs and tissues 
by imagination. The principle here is the same. The idea, or 
psychosis, affects the condition of the tissues through the neuro- 
sis excited. The sensation corresponds to the neurosis and the 
pain is a real pain, arising from an actual physical condition. 
This physical condition may be prolonged or repeated, till it be- 
comes permanent, or works the same damage to the tissues that 
the normal cause of such pain would. Disease, thus, may arise 
from imagination. Conversely, imagination may prevent or cure 
disease by determining neurosis and consequent condition of tis- 
sues. Susceptibility to, and immunity from, disease may to some 
extent be produced in the same way. The anaesthetic effects of 
hypnosis and its therapeutic value may thus be accounted for. 
So may "faith cure/' and such things. 

176 



CURATIVE HYPNOTISM. 

By ARTHUR MAC DONALD, Bureau of Education, 
Washington, D. C. 

(From the Chautauquan, Sept., 1899.) 

In this study we wish to deal with the curative side of hypno- 
tism and more especially with recent experiments and views of 
French specialists. 

If waking is the true expression of the active and free mind, 
sleep on the contrary is the expression to a variable degree of its 
non-activity. The complete isolation in which sleep places the 
sleeper in removing from him all cause of distraction, and the 
auto-suggestion to put his mind and organism in repose produce 
a reparative and beneficial effect, which gradually by the distri- 
bution of the nervous forces restore the equilibrium disturbed by 
work while waking. Hypnotic sleep is produced by the same 
concentration of mind as ordinary sleep, but instead of being due, 
as in the latter case, to self-suggestion, it is effected by sugges- 
tion from without. 

Subjects plunged artificially into the most profound sleep, in 
place of a general and absolute isolation of the senses, may re- 
tain a slight connection of thought and sensation with the hyp- 
notist alone. This is because they fall asleep thinking of him, 
and their active thought continues automatically from them to 
him. The proof of this is that the subject only performs acts 
suggested by the hypnotist. If prolonged natural sleep, effected 
by a habitual and unconscious suggestion, restores poise and 
nervous energy, all the more has artificial sleep, properly di- 
rected, like results, especially if prolonged for some time. Simple 
affirmations to the waking subject sometimes have the power to 
produce curative effects, and these affirmations may become much 
more efficacious if they are made during artificial sleep. In this 
case, the subject, isolated from the world and retaining but a 
greatly diminished sensibility, cannot be distracted by impres 1 - 
sions previously felt. At the same time, his will has lost its 
initiative ; he accepts and submits to what is imposed on his mind. 

177 



CUEATIVE HYPNOTISM. 

Incitation, which is called suggestion, addressed to the mind 
of the sleeper whose inert nervous force is centered in the idea of 
sleep, must without resistance direct this force by turns to any 
part of the organism; from this results an action on the organs, 
in proportion to the amount of attention fixed on the idea of 
sleep. When a suggestion is made to cure the sleeping patient, 
deprived of initiative power, it causes either a depression or an 
excitation of an organ or a part of the nervous system; or the 
brain diminishes its active influence on the tissues according as 
the nervous force is accumulated in it; or, on the contrary, it 
augments this influence in the same proportion. The more em- 
phasis there is centered on the idea of sleep, the greater become 
the curative effects obtained by suggestion; that is, the nearer we 
bring the subject to a state of profound somnambulism, the more 
susceptible we render him to a quick and complete cure. 

Whatever method may be employed to obtain the cure of the 
sick submitted to suggestion, whether simple affirmations of sug- 
gestive force are made to them when awake, or whether favorable 
emotions are produced, we induce in the diseased organs effects 
either sedative or exciting according to the curative idea which 
we express. These actions could not be produced if the mental 
and physical faculties were not transformable, if the mind was 
not closely allied to the matter. Suggestion cannot cure all 
morbid affections, but it has at least, and especially in sleep, a 
beneficial influence over them, even those which are incurable. 

With the aid of Professors Bernheim, Beaunis and Liegeios, 
Liebault was enabled to produce on a hysterical somnambulist, 
the apparitions of reddening spots on the skin, blisters and stig- 
mata, by the single action of the idea they had suggested. On 
other subjects they obtained separately like results. If emotion 
is added to the power of suggestion to reinforce it, the results are 
still more decided. In two somnambulists they were able by 
simple suggestion to produce the slightest modifications in the 
skin. As a result of strong emotion added to suggestion they 
caused a redness in the form of a double cross to appear on the 
hand of one, and blisters of the epidermis on the hand of the 
other, which took several days entirely to pass away. 

178 



CURATIVE HYPNOTISM. 

The suggestion during natural sleep must be made without 
the consent of the patient and not at his instigation. Suppose the 
consciousness of the sleeping subject to have been previously 
freed from all imaginative representation and a receptivity 
created similar to that of the ordinary hypnotic subject and con- 
formable to the laws of the diminution of consciousness. The 
intervention itself must convey suggestions, distinctly articu- 
lated, in such a manner that there is synchronism between the 
emissions of the voice of the therapeutical psychologist and the 
respiratory movements of the subject. It would be well to sus- 
pend the intervention whenever the patient gave evidence of 
waking up, or his respiration quickened. The suggestion should 
never be brusque or sudden and the beginning and the end should 
be thus: the one gradually increased, the other progressively 
diminished, but both enunciated in a purposely drawling and mo- 
notonous voice. When the suggestion is finished the subject 
must continue to sleep, to dream of the things suggested, and not 
to waken until the hour determined upon. 

Suggestion during natural sleep has right to a prominent 
place in the treatment of mental diseases. It also finds place in 
the diverse branches of the psycho-therapeutic domain. In this 
way we may learn more as to the psychology of sleep. 

Mesmerism, hypnotism, and suggestion are perhaps effects of 
fhe same cause, but these effects are certainly produced under 
different conditions and according to different laws. Boirac 
agrees with Durand de Gros that suggestion and mesmerism are 
two distinct agents equally real and independent one from the 
other, which can counterfeit each other as they can also combine 
for the production of common effects. Thus there may be sug- 
gestion without mesmerism and mesmerism without suggestion. 
There may be a pseudo-mesmerism, which is but suggestion, and 
a pseudo-suggestion which is only mesmerism; finally, there may 
be inseparable mesmerism and suggestion; suggestive mesmerism 
or mesmeric suggestion. That suggestion exists without mesmer- 
ism is continually proved. "When," says Boirac, "without look- 
ing at or touching a subject, I say, 'Close your eyes, now you 
cannot open them/ and he vainly tries to do so; when I add ft 

179 



CURATIVE HYPNOTISM. 

'They will open of themselves when I have counted seven/ and 
the effect announced is produced, it is evident that mesmerism 
has nothing to do with the phenomena and they must be ex- 
plained by suggestion alone." 

But suggestion is not only independent of mesmerism, it can 
in many cases take its place or rather simulate all its effects. 
Here, for example, is an experiment often tried with certain sub- 
jects. I place my open hand above the hand of the subject; 
after several seconds he declares that he feels a very strong im- 
pression of heat; presently this heat becomes intolerable and he 
begs me to take my hand away. I reply that I do not hinder 
him from withdrawing his, but after unsuccessful effort he de- 
clares it impossible, and in fact the hand seems to be paralyzed. 
Nevertheless, it moves, rises or falls as soon as I make these move- 
ments, as if an invisible thread attached them. Would one not 
believe one's self to be in the presence of a veritable magnetic 
phenomenon? Yet there is nothing but the counterfeit of mag* 
netism by suggestion. To convince one's self it is only necessary 
to change one condition of the experiment, that which permits 
operator and subject to suggest unknown to each other. Exam- 
ple: I say to the subject, "Close your eyes, now you cannot 
open them/'" and the subject makes vain efforts to unseal the lids. 
If then I begin by holding my hand above his to make it rise or 
fall, as he is not apprised by sight he feels nothing and does not 
move. My hand, a moment before so efficacious, no longer exer- 
cises any influence. But there are cases where, suggestion being 
eliminated, the magnetic effects remain just as distinct and com- 
plete, the subject being truly magnetic and pseudo-magnetic or 
purely suggestible. 

It is evident that suggestible subjects with whom we can 
obtain the counterfeit of magnetism are more common than the 
true magnetic subjects, therefore, Bernheim and all pure sug- 
gestionists are of good faith when they claim to have victoriously 
refuted mesmerism. 

Boirac cites two out of five cases of persons who possessed 
this remarkable element. The one, G. P., a young electrician; 
the other L. Y. ? a student of law and philosophy. In experi- 

180 



OUBATIVE HYPNOTISM. 

meriting with them, precaution was always taken to bandage the 
eyes; then they were told to tell as soon as they felt anything. 
Under these conditions the most varied and. precise effects were 
obtained in all parts of the body, corresponding to positions and 
movements of the operator. 

In the case of G. P., Boirac once placed mesmerism and sug- 
gestion in opposition; he says, "I told him I wished to experiment 
on the time necessary to produce the magnetic effect and asked 
him to tell me the instant he began to feel it. I said I would act 
exclusively by attraction in his right hand and asked him to con- 
centrate all his attention on that side. After this preparatory 
suggestion I said, 'I begin/ making a movement with the right 
hand, but without placing it opposite that of my subject. At the 
end of two or three minutes the subject, who was very attentive, 
murmured: 'It is strange, but I feel absolutely nothing/ then 
suddenly, 'Oh, I do feel something, only it is in the left hand 
and it is not an attraction but a tingling or pricking.' " Boirac 
had in fact silently placed his left hand (which always produced 
tingling, while the right produced attraction) close to the left 
knee of G. P. 

This proves, in this case at least, that suggestion is powerless 
to simulate the effect of magnetism. "When the subject is emi- 
nently suggestible, he may be advised to fix all his attention on 
one of his hands, being told that he will feel attracted by an irre- 
sistible force. As soon as the operator says, "I begin/' the sub- 
ject's hand rises, although the operator has made no movement. 
In this instance suggestion simulates magnetic action perfectly, 
but if at the same time without saying anything the operator 
places his right hand vis-a-vis to his other one it will be attracted, 
the two effects being simultaneous. Identical in appearance, they 
are in reality produced by two distinct causes; the one by mag- 
netism, the other by suggestion. 

Again, the subject being still in the charmed or credulous 
condition, it is suggested that, in order to act exclusively on one 
side of his body, the operator will render the other inert, and he 
ascertains that there is in fact paralysis and anaesthesia of that 
side. Here again the operator has obtained by suggestion a phe- 



CURATIVE HYPNOTISM. 

nomenon of attraction in the members where sensibility and mo- 
tility remained intact, but if he place his right hand near the 
imee or foot paralyzed by suggestion, he finds that imspite of the 
suggestion there are movements of attraction. 

Thus not only can mesmerism produce its effects independent 
of suggestion, but it can in certain cases annul the effects of sug- 
gestion. There is consequently, besides pseudo-suggestive mes- 
merism, a pseudo-mesmeric suggestion. If it is scientifically 
proven that magnetism exists, it becomes necessary to have regard 
to its possible intervention in the ensemble of phenomena at- 
tributed to hypnotism and especially to suggestion. 

The Nancy school said with justice that the old magnetizers 
did not cease to make suggestions unwittingly and suggestionists 
should expect to have it said that they have unwittingly employed 
magnetism. It is possible that the gaze, the contact, the passes, 
and the personality of the operator do not act on certain subjects 
except through purely suggestive influence, but it is also possible 
that with certain other subjects a magnetic influence is added to 
or takes the place of suggestion. As long as these two agents, 
each as real as the other, are always liable to enter into play and 
combine their actions, neither has a right a priori to the effects 
produced by one to the exclusion of the other. 

It is then permissible to suppose that if certain operators, 
such as Liebault, Bernheim, succeed so easily in suggesting so 
large a number of persons, it is not alone because of their great 
skill, their long experience, and consummate knowledge of sug- 
gestive technic, but that they unwittingly possess an exceptional 
magnetic power. This, too, would explain the great inequality 
in the operations of different suggestionists. 



182 



PSYCHOLOGIC BASIS OF HYPNOTISM— NON-VOLUNTARY 
AND VOLUNTARY POWERS. 

GABRIEL CAMPBELL, M. Pd., D. D., Dartmouth College. 

In order to apprehend ciearly the nature of hypnosis it is 
essential that we study the salient facts of the mental life, which 
lie at the foundation. We must find the data or principles, by 
which we distinguish our own self from, what is not the self. 

I. Discrimination of the Self and the World. 

Evidently the primal characteristic of genuine knowledge is 
the ability to separate the total field of intelligence into two com- 
ponents, our own personality and its environment. Such discrim- 
ination, when defective, may be a peculiarity of accredited sci- 
ence as well as of the hypnotic state. 

In setting off the environment from our own personal self we 
need to distinguish at once, the without and within (the external 
and internal) of our thinking; for what we commonly term the 
external world may be largely one's own internal, fanciful con- 
struction, and here even science at its best may be in need of new 
corrections. 

Things as they exist independently of our fancy or of our 
thinking, we call objective. They are the actual existences in 
the external world. -From such real objects we must distinguish 
the creations of our own minds. The latter are subject, of 
course, to the laws of our mental life, having reality only as men- 
tal phenomena and are accordingly called subjective. One of the 
earliest indications of mental observation is an incompetency to 
differentiate the objective from the subjective. 

In keeping the self distinct from the not-self, we encounter 
the further fact that the processes of the mental life do not all 
rise into consciousness. Of a large portion of the mind's opera- 
tions we are entirely unconscious. The sub-conscious springs of 
action are found to be better organized and more powerful than 
the conscious. Hypnotic control accordingly depends upon access 
to these sub-conscious agencies. 



183 



PSYCHOLOGIC BASIS OF HYPNOTISM 

The most radical and chief distinction, however, to be noted 
in separating onr own personal self from our environment, is that 
between the voluntary and the non-voluntary, namely, between 
what originates from the self and what has its source in environ- 
ing conditions. For hypnosis is preeminently a controlling of 
the voluntary or will power by means of that which in ordinary 
life is controlled by the will. In order to comprehend the modus 
operandi here we must observe carefully the 

II. General Factors of the Mental Life. 

The human mind is a wonderful aggregate of variety in unity, 
mental culture tending more and more to unify the processes. 
Our interpretation, however, as it approaches perfection, dis- 
closes to us increasingly the sum of our mental powers, as a tri- 
unity, a threefold capacity, namely, to know, to feel, and to will. 
While we may differentiate these processes for purposes of inter- 
pretation, they never actually exist independently. Our know- 
ing or intellectual action never develops, even in specific in- 
stances, without some resulting feeling or emotion. This devel- 
opment of the emotive life may be simply sub-conscious ; it is still 
none the less really existent, and tends constantly to become, 
indeed to some extent is, executive. 

The distinctively executive function of the mind is what we 
term will, or volition; and this always operates in terms less or 
more of the feeling which has preceded it. Very careful analy- 
sis is required in order to assure ourselves that this feeling, which 
uniformly goes before, is not properly speaking, the cause of our 
choice. Should it be proved that the desire involved in each case 
has a casual relation to our choosing, then our choice is thereby 
determined and not free. Here clearly we reach the question, 
is man simply the creature of this emotive process, or may he 
make subordinate the executive possibilities of his desires? We 
are brought then to inquire as to the 

III. Structure of the Will. 

In the will we find a complete affiliation of the voluntary and 
non-voluntary processes. 

1. Non- Voluntary Side. 

184 



NON-VOLUNTARY AND VOLUNTARY POWERS. 

The non-voluntary activities, as a rule, do not rise into con- 
sciousness, that is, we become conscious of their existence subse- 
quent to their development, and only after they have reached a 
certain intensity. For instance, our desire for food only becomes 
conscious when it has attained such power that we apprehend it 
as hunger. In what is named instinct man has a definite appe- 
tency which may, as in the case of the animal, secure its object 
without becoming part and parcel of the conscious life. Instinct 
involves an executive efficiency which must select in order to 
secure. There accordingly exists a capacity to choose which is 
entirely sub-conscious, a non-voluntary choosing. It is this in- 
stinctive agency which makes all feeling more or less exec- 
utive. Before we are conscious of the chill of a falling tempera- 
ture, the surface of the body has been adjusted to the changed 
conditions. This non-voluntary effort or tendency is sometimes 
called conation. 

"When we decide that all feeling is executive, we imply that 
whatever produces feeling develops innervation by exciting the 
motor nerve system which tends regularly to definitize itself, 
namely, to develop movement in some definite direction. Con- 
sidering now that a man's desires are at the foundation of his 
preferences we conclude correctly that his preferences, as they 
rise into consciousness, involve selection and choice, which pre- 
cede any conscious intention, and which are outcome of that or- 
ganization of energies which is characteristic of our sub-conscious 
selves. 

2. Voluntary Side. 

Man as a spiritual being possesses, and is conscious of, a cas- 
ual capacity. We need not construe this originative or casual 
capacity as a beginning of action. The activities exist. The sub- 
conscious side being powerfully energetic, the free choice, as a 
rule, is merely the decision as to what energy is commissioned to 
take the field. Free choice is first self-command, and then self- 
direction. Our definite preferences which spring from our sub- 
conscious organization may all be checked, or one may be set 
free and allowed to dominate. 



185 



PSYCHOLOGIC BASIS OF HYPNOTISM 

3. The Motive. 

The interplay of the sub-conscious sides of the will is by 
means of an intermediary or motive. Free choice is always in 
the light of intelligence. It is man's philosophy that enables the 
development of his freedom. His motives are the outcome of his 
logic. In other words man in his responsible capacity is scien- 
tific as well as philosophical. His motives are the ground of his 
choosing, still no more the cause of his choosing than is the 
ground upon which he walks, the cause of his walking. Inas- 
much as a man's science (knowledge) is always limited to a 
greater or less extent, his motives, even were he perfectly ra- 
tional, would never acquire an absolute validity or sovereignty. 
In a normal state of mind the motive (based as it is on our want) 
may always be controlled. In dipsomania or kleptomania, the 
motive becomes regnant or sovereign; but this is an abnormal 
condition. 

One method may hold an indefinite number of others logi- 
cally subordinated. This we call an intention. "When intention 
has become a working process, we call it purpose. We shall un- 
derstand better in what way motives break with our rationality 
and become regnant by considering our relation to 

IV. Adaptation, Imitation and Idea-Motor Action. 

Man develops in terms of his environment. He is largely 
what his surroundings make him. His survival is a matter of 
adaptation. This law of his development appears not alone in his 
relation to general physical conditions, but especially as respon- 
sive to his personal or spiritual environings. The power of per- 
sonalities is most imperious — often unlimitedly so. We surren- 
der unconsciously. This applies eminently to effects visible and 
audible. We unconsciously memorize and repeat. Adaptation 
develops into imitation. Attractive personalities are sure to 
fashion our movements and tones, and give them fixity. "I am 
part of all that I have met. 77 Our ideals thus become working 
forces in ourselves. 

Reference has already been made to the executive tendency of 
feeling and to the fact that knowledge is uniformly the precursor 
of emotion. There is no better way to classify the emotions than 

186 



NON-VOLUNTARY AND VOLUNTARY POWERS. 

under the characteristic of our intellection which is the occasion, 
not to say the cause. Here has arisen the technical expression, 
"idea-motor action." The motor effect, the action which results 
from our ideas, may not appear externally, it nevertheless exists. 
Ideas that enrage us prepare us for battle. How far they become 
executive depends upon our will. Let the will with its balance 
wheel of rationality be in abeyance, and ideas (as we have seen 
in case of the motive) will dominate; it may be with the surpass- 
ing potency of our sub-conscious organism. 

V. Hypnotic Control. 

From these general facts we rightly judge that, in our normal 
life, attention is freely directed. Whatever overcomes this free 
balance of power impairs our self -consciousness, and widens ave- 
nues of approach in which dynamic instead of genuinely rational 
influences become regnant. Insurrection takes the place of uni- 
tary government ; passion dethrones judgment. We should bear 
in mind, however, that this insurrection of the sub-conscious is 
thoroughly organized. There is, moreover, on account of the 
withdrawal of the efficiency (the saporific condition) of the upper 
centers of the brain, an abnormal concentration in the lower cen- 
ters. Idea-motor action may now be developed without the 
wonted restraints of deliberation. Instead of checking money out 
of the bank in the regular way the thief gains access to the safe. 
The self-moving energies which result from habituation are 
stored in the sub-conscious, and become available. The imitative 
instinct operates without restraint. Under the law of adaptation 
wdiat is heard is believed — what is commanded becomes idea- 
motor. Similarly what is seen (an act of a personality) is exe- 
cuted. 

The hypnotic subject may be more or less conscious that he 
is performing, still he is unable to arouse his voluntary attention 
sufficiently to break with environing conditions. A command to 
immoral action may perhaps awaken, and cause a refusal. The 
extent to which the delusion, the control, may be carried may 
depend also upon physiolgical rather than psychological peculiar- 
ities of the individual. The same may be said of cataleptic ef- 
fects produced in the muscular system. At the same time the 

187 



PSYCHOLOGIC BASIS OF HYPNOTISM. 

power of the fancy or imagination, where the subjective replaces 
the objective, may be such as to checkmate the senses and pro- 
duce radical modifications of the physique. 

As the stores of the memory are sub-consciously adjusted the 
development of memorial images may be greater than is possible 
under the rule of the voluntary; effects may be produced which 
will assert themselves in the future. Ordinarily, however, when 
the memory, which has thus like a stream overflowed its banks, 
returns to its proper channel, there is no recollection of the fields 
that were flooded during the supremacy of the sub-conscious self. 

Indeed, while we may scientifically differentiate the sub-con- 
scious self from the normal conscious self, recognizing a double 
consciousness, there is no definite sub-conscious personality, the 
recognition of the self in hypnosis depending quite indefinitely 
upon the centralization of the moment. 



1 88 



THE SCIENTIFIC VALUE OF HYPNOSIS 

By J. MARK BALDWIN, Ph. D., Princeton University. 

The firm establishing of the facts covered by the term hypno- 
sis, and the discovery of the methods duly under control for the 
manipulation of the state, make it possible to give a more or less 
judicial opinion as to the permanent value of it for psychological 
and medical sciences. In the opinion of the present writer, it is 
still too early to state conclusions as to its use for education, 
moral, social reform, etc. Since the facts upon which such con- 
clusions should rest are still too meagre to afford more than con- 
jectural opinions. 

Admitting the truth of the "suggestion" theory of hypnosis, 
the theory originally suggested, but in an extreme form by the 
Nancy School and contributed to in its present form by men of 
all shades of opinion, we find that in psychology proper, certain 
principles are supported by it which are of very great generality 
and importance. The suggestion theory applies the term sugges- 
tion in a very wide sense. Any more or less abrupt injection of 
an idea or thought into the patient's mind in a way to hold his 
attention fixed and thus to narrow his consciousness by with- 
drawal from other ideas, — this is called suggestion. This is an 
old fact, — the possibility of doing this. But the possibility of 
controlling the patient's thought through a series of such sug- 
gestions and furthermore of controlling the effects of such sug- 
gestion upon his action both during and after his hypnosis, — 
these are new and quite remarkable discoveries and from these 
certain consequences I shall state what I conceive to be the most 
important results to date of these investigations. 

(1) They show that there is a quasi-mechanism of attention 
which can be made stationary or self -repeating. A single idea is 
made to hold the attention in a state of paralysis or static con- 
traction and while the attention is thus held, locked as it were, a 
series of images or ideas is made to pass in succession through the 
focus of consciousness. Besides being theoretically of great im- 
portance, this gives us a method of experimenting with conscious- 



189 



THE SCIENTIFIC VALUE OF HYPNOSIS. 

ness and finding out how ideas behave in the mind when the pro- 
cesses of selective and voluntary attention are held in abeyance. 

(2) What is called the sensory-motor character of conscious- 
ness is demonstrated with great force in the hypnotic state. Ideas 
work themselves out in action, in a way quite remarkable for its 
precision and regularity. There are limits to this automatism of 
the hypnotized subject. Some suggestions of action are refused, 
probably as in many cases of criminal suggestion, because they 
come in conflict with the more deep-seated habits and disposition 
of the individual. But still the regular case is, that a suggestion 
to action is taken and carried out. This means a certain dynamic 
circuit through the brain which may work quite independently 
of the higher centers of attention and control, — a result which 
goes in well with the more remarkable results of so-called auto- 
matism to be mentioned below. 

(3) With the preceding, go the physical effects which may 
be wrought by hypnotic suggestion. These effects are still ob- 
scure enough but they are real. They show an extraordinary 
responsiveness to the whole organism on the functional side, to 
the condition of the brain as this is set or manipulated through 
consciousness. There are no miracles here. No doubt, mental 
states are also, at the same time, brain states; and to say that phy- 
sical generally are modified by suggestion is only to say that 
brain and nervous conditions dominate the entire organism. But 
never has this domination been so clearly shown nor its possibili- 
ties so opened up before. Here lies the reality of cures of func- 
tional troubles, rheumatism, nervousness of all sorts, etc., and 
in a measure, no doubt, also mental and moral complaints. It 
should be said, however, regarding these latter that they raise 
certain further questions. The ills of mind and morals involve 
the higher adjustments of life, — the adaptation to a social envi- 
ronment and the habits of conduct which result from long edu- 
cative processes or from repeated indulgence and so have be- 
come, in a most intimate sense, elements of character. While 
suggestion, therefore, may work physical cures and in a measure 
effect the moral tendencies of the patient, the cure of these things 
would seem to involve just those higher efforts of attention and 



THE SCIENTIFIC VALUE OF HYPNOSIS. 

volition which hypnosis temporarily inhibits. Nevertheless, cases 
of personal indulgence^ alcoholism, sexual excesses, etc., together 
with tendencies which spring from abnormal or fixed ideas, may 
w T ell be found amenable to suggestive treatment. In fact, many 
cases of cures of both of these sorts are recorded, notably those of 
the second class. Ideas, which persist to torment, dominate and 
at times craze the patient, have been successfully removed by 
suggestion, and the nervous ills, such as hysteria, springing from 
them, cured. 

(4) Light has been thrown on the operations of memory. 
Memory as a mental function has been definitely thrown on the 
side of automatism. It is found that the lower circuit, the form 
of consciousness which is not voluntary, has its own memory not 
only for one period of the hypnotic state, but for several succes- 
sive periods which become united in memory across the interven- 
ing normal periods, leaving no breaks. This shows that when the 
ordinary supporting and controlling influence of the brain hemis- 
pheres, or those parts of them which selective attention involves, 
is removed, the lower centers may still suffice to support a con- 
sciousness having a fairly adequate memory of its own. Yet, and 
this is the more remarkable, when the normal relations are re- 
established, the memory series thus formed does not become part 
of the higher memory of the voluntary consciousness, but all the 
events of the successive hypnotic state are forgotten. 

(5) The last point leads us to the general question as to the 
nature of this lower consciousness which has its own memory, 
and performs so many acts of a seemingly purposeful sort. Here 
we reach the topic of most, interest of all, in this obscure region. 
This lower consciousness has been naturally discovered, but inves- 
tigated and much is now known about it. It goes by the name 
of the "unconscious" or the "secondary self." It seems that the 
materials of experience which come into consciousness are, in a 
measure, united and form a quasi-personality, as the facts of 
memory testify. It is a crude, low, sort of thing, this sub-con- 
sciousness, and most of its performances can be accounted for, in 
my opinion, by the principles of suggestion, habit and memory. 
It is demonstrated by what Janet has called psychological auto- 

191 



THE SCIENTIFIC VALUE OF HYPNOSIS. 

matism — i. e., — the carrying out automatically of the normal re- 
sults of association, habit, etc., in a very refined and personal-like 
way. It can count, can answer simple questions appropriately 
and do other things, which are ordinarily ascribed to intelligence. 
Yet, when we remember what animals of low, mental endowment 
are capable of doing under the simple training of rewards and 
punishment, with association of ideas, we become cautious in 
ascribing to the sub-conscious the attributes of a highly developed 
self. The theories, which find in the sub-conscious, the gifts of 
genius, the attributes of self -consciousness and the refined powers 
of aesthetic and moral appreciation and production, are quite 
mistaken. For patients never do such things when they are only 
sub-conscious, the genius must have his higher centers and his 
mental powers of attention and will, in full operation in order to 
do his work and it is no argument for a sub-conscious genius to 
say that the genius may not be conscious of the methods of his 
thought. These are, in the mind of the writer, the main results 
so far established by hypnotic research. Certainly they are strik- 
ing and valuable enough and it is only to bring them and the 
method into disrepute to make extravagant claims which go be- 
yond the facts. 



192 



TRANCE AND SUGGESTION IN THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 

By PROFESSOR JAMES H. LEUBA.Ph. D., Bryn Mawr College. 

We must take for granted that the reader of this paper is 
acquainted with the meaning of the words hypnotism and sug- 
gestion ; that he knows the efficacy of ideas to he dependent upon 
the multitude of circumstances which determine the psychic atti- 
tude of the giver and of the receiver of the suggestion. We as- 
sume also that he knows that suggestion need not, to be effective, 
be practiced during hypnotic sleep. Hypnosis is a state of 
heightened suggestibility; outside of it suggestion may also . 
have very powerful results.* Between the lower degree of sug- 
gestibility, — the wide awake, all around alertness which charac- 
terizes some of our moods, — and somnambulism, there stretches 
a scale of psycho-physiological states along which we are all in- 
cessantly in motion. 

Our task in the following paper is to point out, within the 
much too narrow space at our disposal, how far trance and 'sug- 
gestion may account for some of the phenomena of religious life. 
Our attention will be given entirely to the two most important 
manifestations of the Christian religion: Union with God and 
Conversion. 

Union or Communion with God has all possible degrees, the 
highest of them is called mystical ecstasy. Mysticism has been, 
and still is, a very powerful factor in Christianity, for Union with 
God is the highest and best condition of the Christian, according 
to that large portion of the Church to which the name mystic 
may be applied if used in its largest and exclusively religious 
sense, f 

What is this exalted state and how is it induced? We will let 
the great mystics themselves, many of whom were subtle intro- 

*See "Suggestive Therapeutics," by Bernheim and "Suggestion without 
Hypnotism," by Ch. Barrows, Proc. Sec. of Psy. Research, Part XXX., Vol. 
XII. 

tinges in his excellent book, defines rel ; gious mysticism as "The attempt 
to realize the presence of the living God inthe soul and in nature." — Chris- 
tian Mysticism, p. 5. 

193 



TRANCE AND SUGGESTION IN THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 

spectors, answer these questions for us. The Doctor Ecstaticus, 
John of Ruysbrock, is one of those who have carefully noted the 
several steps of the scala perfectionis or ladder of love. Id 
a Ordo Spiritualium Nuptiarum" three stages are described. The 
third and highest he calls the Contemplative Life: "In thb simple 
and intent contemplation, we are one life and one spirit with 
God. In this highest state the soul is united to God without 
means; it sinks into the vast darkness of the Godhead." Notice 
the words "v..st darkness;" in another place he uses the expres- 
sion "nudity of mind" to describe the condition of the soul in 
God. 

The treatise of the delicately naive Francois de Sales on "The 
Love of God," is an extensive and minute guide to ecstasy. As the 
mystics agree on the chief points upon which our inquiry bears, 
we may draw our information altogether from this book.* 

The journey of the soul begins with Meditation; from it, it 
passes to Contemplation which, becoming deeper and deeper, 
ascends through Amorous Contemplation, Rest of the Soul in 
the Beloved, Liquefaction of the Soul in God, Amorous Languor, 
the Sovereign Degree of Union in Suspension [of the senses and 
of the will] and finally reaches Ecstasy. f Let us take up succes- 
sively the most important of these steps. 

"Meditation considers in detail the objects proper to move 
us, but contemplation views the object of love in a lump, and as 
a whole. It takes place without effort and with pleasure. . . . 
and in this it differs from meditation which requires almost al- 
ways an effort, work and speech." The author insists upon the 
passivity of the soul when once she has left meditation behind: 
"It is God who produces contemplation in ourselves according to 
His good pleasure, by the efficacy of His Holy Grace." A cer- 
tain "sweet sweetness" diffuses itself imperceptibly in the heart. 
The soul is so "quietly attentive to the kindness of the beloved 
(bien aim6,) that she seems hardly attentive at all. This peace 
may go so far that all the powers of the soul stir no more, they 
are as asleeu: the will itself does nothing more than receive the 
delight afforded by the presence of the beloved." 

*Traite' de 1' Amour de Dicu, by St. Francois de Sales. 
See the heads of the Chapters of Books VI. and VII. 

194 



TBANCB AND SUGGESTION IN THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 

The psychologist will note that the contemplative state, as we 
find it described here, is, on the intellectual side, essentially one 
of the stages through which the hypnotist tries to lead his subject. 
He finds him actively thinking about whatever may be of interest 
to him at the time ; he asks him to be seated, to remain peacefully 
quiet, to be passive, merely receptive. "Do not make any effort 
to think of anything in particular; let your mind become a blank, 
and you will presently pass into a quiet, pleasant sleep" — thus 
speaks the hypnotist. He may, as is well known, help the pro- 
duction of the necessary mental abeyance by other means, the 
fixation of a brilliant point, for instance, but, whatever the means, 
the result aimed at is to get the subject into a state of mental 
passivity and blankness such as St. Francois describes. 

But contemplation is only one of the lower rounds of the 
ladder of love. The "Sacred Amorous Quietude" goes at times 
so far that although the soul feels the Savior speaking to her, she 
cannot speak to Him; "her heaviness is so great that she is like 
•one who is beginning to fall asleep. But finally, she can some- 
times neither hear nor speak to the beloved, she does not even feel 
any sign of his presence . . . It is then that the soul on awak- 
ening may rightly say: "truly have I slept with my God, held 
within the arms of His divine presence, and I knew it not." The 
trance has become complete, consciousness has altogether ceased. 
This sovereign state is, as far as intellect and will are concerned, 
identical with the non-religious trance. To give to it the large, 
vague sense of unequaled delight characteristic of the so-called 
liquefaction of the soul in God, the hypnotist need only awaken 
in his subject ideas pleasant in a high degree; let him be shown 
the beloved woman in a halo of dazzling light and he will sink in 
an abyss of "divine raptures." His trance will then be suffused 
with the glow of the tender passion and thus become equal to the 
Nirvana of the Christian mystic. 

It has become customary to look askance at the great ecsta- 
sies of the old mystics; we have come to feel that there is nothing 
particularly sacred, or religiously exalted, about the God-Intoxi- 
cation, even though it be brought about bv the concentration o^ 
attention upon God viewed as a huge, nebulous blank, exuding 

195 



TRANCE AND SUGGESTION IN THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 

the "honey of devotion." Most of us are ready to listen to science 
when it explains these obsolete, voluptuous, wonders - s the natu- 
ral effect, — normal or abnormal, but in a_iy case, independent of 
any intervention on the part of the Divinity — of particular ideas 
and of a definite psychic attitude, an attitude sufficiently well 
described in the preceding pages. 

We add without commentary a few lines concerning an ecsta- 
tic woman recently seen at La Salp6tri6re. Her trances are in- 
duced or accompanied by religious imagery, generally the vision 
of the Savior. During her ecstasies she stands up in the position 
of the crucifixion. She is then unconscious of what goes on about 
her, but on awakening she remembers in part her ecstasies and 
takes pleasure in describing them in writing. It would often be 
difficult to say whether one is reading St. Theresa or an inmate 
of La Salp6triere. "I felt an ineffable sweetness upon my lips; 
soon they became as glued together; my limbs grew numb, but it 
is a numbness full of delight, a Volupte* suave' which overspreads 
the whole body. I saw the Holy Sacrament in a blaze of light 
such as one never sees." 

Her feet, even during her waking state, are contracted; she 
walks on tiptoe. Twice she presented stigmata. When she re- 
turns to her normal mental condition, she frequently complains of 
dryness of heart; the contractures disappear and her appetite 
increases considerably. The trances can easily be brought about 
by suggestion made during her waking state. She is a pious soul 
and looks upon hypnotism as the work of the devil. Pierre Janet 
has, therefore, taken the habit of using the idea of God to cause 
the trance ; he asks her to pray God to grant her the favor of an 
ecstasy.* So much for the complete degree of Union with God, 
as understood and practiced by F. de Sales, Meister Eckhard, 
Ruysbrock, St. Theresa, Miquel de Molinos, Loyola, lime. 
Guy on and the host of their followers. 

It need hardly be remarked that if the higher degrees of Di- 
vine Union may be produced by powers inherent in human na- 
ture, so much more is it possible for its less complete degrees, i. e., 
for the "spiritual" states familiar to most devout Christians under 

♦See, for a preliminary report, Nevroses Idees fixes, pp. 98 and 99. 
196 



TRANCE AND SUGGESTION IN THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 

the name "Communion with God." From the practical religious 
point of view, their superiority to the mystic trance depends upon 
the degree of fullness of the consciousness retained and the qual- 
ity of its contents. The sense of fellowship with God is, to many, 
a priceless source of ennobling strength while mystic ecstasy is a 
debauching indulgence. 

Christian Conversion is, according to theology, the process by 
which the "natural" man is "reborn" and becomes a "spiritual" 
and a "saved" man. It is, therefore, the most momentous work 
of the Grace of God in His Dealings with man, the pre-eminently 
excellent testimony of God's power and of His love for man, and 
it is also the most characteristic of all the manifestations of Chris- 
tianity. 

Conversion may take place more or less suddenly and tragi- 
cally, or it may be a slow growth without any startling crisis. 
There are souls born, as it were, in the inheritance of the salva- 
tion obtained by their parents. Let it not be imagined that it is 
simply a change of conviction touching religious doctrines, a 
mere intellectual turn about. Were it nothing more than that, it 
would not deserve the place made for it in Christian theology; 
but true Christian conversion is much more. McClintock and 
Strong Biblical Cyclopedia defines it, "that change in the 
thoughts, desires, dispositions and life of a sinner which is 
brought about when the Holy Ghost enters the heart as the result 
of the exercise of a saving faith in the atonement by which the 
sinner is justified." 

There are a number of historical conversions known to most 
people as St. Paul's, St. Augustin's, Ch. Wesley's, etc. It is less 
well known that they can be matched by numberless noteworthy 
ethico-religious transformations of our humblest contempo- 
raries. The following recent instance taken from the appendix 
to the author's paper, "Studies in the Psychology of Religion, 
Amer. Jr. of Psy. Vol. VII. , will add definiteness to the experi- 
ence under consideration. 

G., age 40, converted twenty months ago. Now Superinten- 
dent of a Mission : 



197 



TEANCE AND SUGGESTION IN THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 

Until the age of twenty-one he lived in a Christian home. 
He took his first glass of whiskey at that a^e and gradually be- 
came a drunkard. Three years ago, after the ruin, through dis- 
sipation, of his business establishment, he went to Canada, where 
no one knew his antecedents, with the intention of beginning 
life anew. But soon he fell a prey to his old enemy. He had 
signed enough abstinence pledges to "cover the wall of a room." 
They were never kept more than a month, generally only a few 
days, and sometimes but a few hours, in spite of hard struggles 
to be true to his promise. In Montreal he lost a very good posi- 
tion ($70 a fortnight) and was thrown into prison for disorderly 
conduct. Disgusted and tired of life, he. left Canada to go to W., 
where he arrived intoxicated. He secured a position, but was soon 
dismissed for drunkenness, and then found himself once more 
without money, without friend and without home. Gladly would 
he have welcomed death. As he was in this wretched situation, 
a lady showed him sympathy and invited him to a Mission. Her 
kindness made him look within. For years no one had ever 
cared about him; this unwonted kindly interest went to his heart. 
At the meeting a pressing invitation was given to all persons 
present to give themselves to the Lord Jesus Christ with the 
assurance that He would save them. A bed was given him in the 
Mission-house. "While his room-mate lay drunk, he sat up or 
paced the room all night long in a sullen, despairing mood. Some 
one lent him a Bible; he tried to read it, but his thoughts were 
too disturbing. That which he had heard in the meeting had 
brought to his mind recollections of youth, the thought of the 
young wife he had left in England, of his family, etc. He rea- 
lized that there was no hope, that if he died then he would go to 
hell. He prayed, asking God to take him as he was, saying that 
if He was willing to save him he would let Him. "I said, here 
I am." At about 6 A. M. he felt that God had pardoned him. 
The anguish of the night had passed, and he found himself calm 
and peaceful. That very morning he told a companion that he 
was converted, that he had given his heart to God. Terrible 
were the temptations that day, as he passed before the saloon 
doors; but he was kept. They recurred day after day for more 

198 



TRANCE AND SUGGESTION IN THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 

than a week. The lady's continued sympathy was a great com- 
fort to him. 

Three months after his conversion, he opened a Mission, 
which progressed rapidly, and is now doing very good work 
among the outcasts. (Written from detailed notes taken while 
he was relating his conversion to me.) 

As our purpose in this paper is to investigate the nature of 
the forces at play in conversion, it would be advantageous to 
choose for our observation material, sudden and well marked 
instances, for the psycho-physiological -machinery ,if we may be 
allowed the expression, appears much more clearly in these than 
in the slower and less complete cases. But it will be better still 
if we consider the conditions and circumstances under which 
large numbers of striking conversions take place, i. e., "Revival" 
meetings. The limited space at our disposal will not make it 
possible for us to do much more than hint at facts which would 
need elucidation to gain their full weight in the mind of the 
reader. Before we proceed, however, two points should be agreed 
upon: 

(1) Sudden transformations in the intellectual, affective, 
and even in the moral life are by no means limited to religious 
influences, as it is sometimes believed. The student of insanity 
and of the disorders of the nervous system in general, is familiar 
with character-transformations which, in point of depth and 
extent, leaving out the question of direction, do not yield to the 
most astonishing examples of Christian conversion. We recall, 
for instance, the numerous cases of multiple personalities care- 
fully reported in scientific publications during the last few de- 
cades. There is a class of mental disorders called Circular Insan- 
ity, because the patient passes periodically through a cycle in- 
cluding melancholia, comparative equilibrium and mania. In- 
stances of this disorder may be found in almost every insane hos- 
pital. Similar, but less intense changes, will be a familiar 
experience with nearly all normal persons in the habit of taking 
notice of their moods. 

(2) Transformations similar to those just mentioned may be 
artificially induced especially, but not exclusively, by suggestion 

199 



TKANCE AND SUGGESTION IN THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 

practiced during hypnosis. We mention only the remarkable 
case of Lucie in Avhom Pierre Janet brought to light, by means 
of hypnotic suggestion, three distinct personalities.* 

That the physiological activities can be powerfully altered by 
means of suggestion either during hypnotic sleep, or outside of it, 
is to-day a universally acknowledged fact. Of particular interest 
to us are the remarkable results obtained in the treatment of 
dypsomaniacs and drunkards. We quote from the tabulated 
report of Dr. Ch. Lloyd Tuckey (London), to the third Congress 
of Psychology. "Out of 65 cases treated (39 men, 26 women), 
cured, 15; relapsed after apparent cure of two years, 2; died six 
months after apparent cure, 1; much benefited permanently, 7; 
relapsed after three to six months, 30; no effect, 10. At the 
same congress, Dr. Bramwell (London) reported a case of sevenr 
teen years' duration which has remained cured now for 
seven years. Family history very bad, a brother died from 
drink, a cousin drank to excess and committed suicide. Forel, 
in his book, "der Hypnotismus," relates the beautiful cure of a 
confirmed drunkard, 10 years old, who had twice attempted sui- 
cide. 

Not one of the Missions opened in the dark portions of our 
large cities meet with an equal degree of success in their effort to 
save drunkards. 

It is only very recently that the students of "suggestion" 
have turned their attention to its moral therapeutic value. In the 
Revue d'Hypnotisme and the Zeitschrift fur Hypnotismus, Lie- 
baux Voisin, Berillon, Ladame, and many others, have reported 
many cures of ethical defects and vices, wrathfulness, jealousy, 
deceitf illness, laziness, timorousness, stubbornness, etc. Dr. 
Berillon has even opened a clinic to which children of the public 
schools of Paris are regularly sent for treatment. 1 That the im- 
provement does not bear merely on some specific evil habit, but 
may be a re-forming, a re-casting of the character will be made 
evident by the following instance- reported by Aug. Voisin: 2 

*Li'Automatism Psychologique. 

1. See his pamphlet, "IS Orthopelie Mentale," Rueff & Co., Paris, in 
which are gathered the best results of his own practice. 

2. Revue de l'Hypnotisme, 1899, p. 130-132. 

200 



TRANCE AND SUGGESTION IN THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 

A boy 16 years of age was brought to Dr. Voisin to be cured 
of bad instincts. "Since the age of 13, when he suffered from 
tetanus, he had nystagmus and a pronounced lisp, but before 
that disease, and already from the age of 6 or 7, he had an insuf- 
ferable disposition. He was deceitful, disobedient, cruel and. 
moreover, a thief. Year by year his bad instincts grew worse. 
He was sent back home from several institutions. 

"During the two last years, his thieving propensities have 
much increased and he gave himself up to debauchery. He 
steals from his mother to indulge his sexual vice. Onanism has 
moreover become a passion to which he yields even before his 
mother. He prides himself upon his wickedness. 

"After three seances, he fell into hypnosis. From the very 
first following seance, the young man ceased to steal and his 
character improved. He was hypnotized every three days; the 
suggestions were made to bear successively upon his bad charac- 
ter and upon his several vicious instincts. On the 6th of July, 
the young man was completely transformed. The desire to do 
evil had disappeared and- was replaced by the wish to do good. 
He had now the earnest intention to obey and otherwise please 
his mother. He was in a way no more the same youth. As soon 
as he had entered my office, he would tell me of the happiness he 
felt at his change." 

On the 20th of October, after an interruption of six weeks 
in the treatment, he had not fallen back, and on the 13th of 
July last, 1899, a student of the "Ecole Normale Superieure" 
who had taken an interest in the young man, wrote to Dr. Voi- 
sin: "I have again seen intimately, the young man of whom we 
spoke together, and my first impressions have been confirmed. 
The transformation appears to me to be now complete; he wants 
to do right and strives for success. He speaks with horror of his 
past life. Moreover, he is fully awake to the beauty and desir- 
ableness of the new life opening before him ,and he desires it 
with all his heart. It seems even that he is no more tempted." 

This is a transformation "of the heart" as complete as a re- 
vivalist could desire it, and in a particularly unpromising sub- 
ject. These two preliminary points established, we can turn to 



TRANCE AND SUGGESTION IN THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 

the peculiar psychic atmosphere of Revivals and to the nature of 
the influences which create it. We shall, of course, be able to 
take notice of the more powerful factors only; a minute study 
would fill a volume. The theses which we maintain and intend 
to prove in the following pages are (1) that the effect of the ethi- 
co-religious commotion called a "Revival" is to produce in many 
a state of increased suggestibility which would make possible 
more or less sudden and comprehensive alterations of character, 
provided sufficiently powerful and frequent suggestions to that 
effect be made to those under the influence. (2) That the sug- 
gestions are in fact made, reiterated and effectively supported by 
a formidable mass of facts and circumstances. 

Our task will be much shortened and made easier by the 
unusually intelligent account given of the Northampton revival 
by its promoter, Jonathan Edwards, the distinguished theologian 
and metaphysician.* 

Northampton was at the time a town of 200 families. At the 
death of Edward's grandfather, Stoddard, whose successor he was, 
the youth of the town had fallen below the New England aver- 
age of public morality. Under Edward's ministry, they amended 
little by little. In 1734 two young people died suddenly and 
that event, together with the sermon preached on the occasion, 
influenced greatly the small community, — it must not be for- 
gotten that the ground had been prepared by Edward's early 
activity. "Young people began to meet for religious edification 
in several parts of the town. Shortly after, a young woman, one 
of the greatest company keepers in the whole town, was next 
converted. The news of it seemed to be almost a flash of light- 
ning upon the hearts of the young people all over town. Pres- 
ently upon this, a great and earnest concern about the great 
things of religion and the eternal world, became universal in all 
parts of the town, — all other talk but about spiritual and eternal 
things was soon thrown by. 

"It then was a dreadful thing amongst us to lie out of Christ, 
in danger every day of dropping into hell; and what persons' 

*"A narrative of surprising Conversions in Northampton" and another 
pamphlet by the same author on "The Revival of Religion in New Eng- 
land." 



TRANCE AND SUGGESTION IN THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 

minds were intent upon was to escape for their lives and to fly; 
from the wrath to come. Souls did, as it were, come by flocks 
to Jesus Christ. 

"Our young people when they met were wont to spend the 
time in talking of the excellency and undying love of Jesus 
Christ. And even at weddings, which were formerly merely oc- 
casions of mirth and jollity, there was now no discourse of any- 
thing but the things of religion, and no appearance of any but 
spiritual mirth." The contagion spread to neighboring villages 
and cities; all were affected, young and old, rich and poor, sober 
and vicious. 'I hope that more than 300 souls were savingly 
brought home to Christ in this town, in the space of half a year, 
and about the same number of males as females. Many elderly 
persons; upwards of 50 above 40 years of age.' 

The little Northampton town was subjugated and maintained 
for six months under one poignant fear or one inexpressible joy. 
Would you know more definitely what ideas filled the minds of 
the people? Edwards numbers them as follows: An extraordi- 
nary sense of the awful majesty and greatness of God, so as often 
times to take away the bodily strength; a sense of the holiness 
of God, as of a flame infinitely pure and bright, so as some times 
to overwhelm soul and body; a sense of the piercing all seeing 
eye of God, so as sometimes to take away the bodily strength 
and an extraordinary view of the infinite terribleness of the 
wrath of God which has very frequently been strongly impressed 
on the mind together with a sense of the ineffable misery of sin- 
ners that are exposed to His wrath, that has been overbearing." 
No wonder that persons fainted, that their flesh waxed cold 
and benumbed, that their bodies were set into convulsions, "being- 
overpowered with a strong sense of the astonishing, great and ex- 
cellent things of God and the eternal world." 

Before putting down his pen, Edwards, as if to convince the 
blindest and place our first thesis absolutely out of doubt, narrates 
the following event: "Six months from the beginning of the 
awakening, in the latter part of May, it began to be very sensible 
that the spirit of God was gradually withdrawing from us. The 
first instance wherein it appeared was a person putting an end to 

203 



TRANCE AND SUGGESTION IN THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 

his own life, by cutting his throat. He was of a good, intelligent 
family, hut prone to the disease of melancholy and had been ex- 
traordinarily concerned from the beginning of the awakening. 
He was kept awake nights, meditating terror, so that he had 
scarce any sleep at all, for a long time. 

" After this [suicide] multitudes in this and other towns 
seemed to have it strongly suggested to them and pressed upon 
them to do as this person had done. And many that seemed 
to be under no melancholy, some pious persons, that had no 
special darkness or doubts about the goodness of their state, 
nor were under any special trouble or concern of mind about 
anything spiritual or temporal, yet had it urged upon them, 
as if somebody had spoken to them: ' Cut your throat, now is 
a good opportunity. Now! Now!' So that they were obliged 
to fight with all their might to resist it and yet no reason sug- 
gested to them why they should do it. About the same time, 
there were two remarkable instances of persons led away with 
strange, enthusiastic delusions" 

We have before us a whole community for whom hell and 
heaven were kept gaping day and night during six months by a 
skillful, persistent and terribly earnest man. Every day the 
sombre dread and the glowing delight were intensified by new 
convulsions and new conversions. That the population could not 
be otherwise than in one of those abnormal conditions in which 
the force of alien ideas is indefinitely multiplied, will be evident 
to all. 

We have described the Northampton revival under Jon. Ed- 
Avards, but Whitefield, Tannant, Davenport, Nettleton, Hallock, 
Wesley, Finney, Moody, Pearsall, Smith, General Booth, etc., 
obtained similar results by similar means. Their methods dif- 
fered as to details of procedure and as to the prominence given 
to this or that emotion. The results are of a finer or coarser grain 
according to the degree of perfection attained by the revivalist 
himself. The finished graces of the Christian gentleman cannot 
be expected to blossom under the ministry of the southern evan- 
gelist, now stumping the country escorted and supported by re- 
sponsible clergymen, who uses the following simile: "Some of 

204 



TRANCE AND SUGGESTION IN THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 

you people — ministers included — can't get down and pray any 
higher than you can spit." 

Means of the same kind have been used and are being used 
in the Roman Catholic Church.* They have been systematized 
in the institution called "Retreats." A Retreat lasts a certain 
number of days with no less than three and sometimes five daily 
services. In France it- is usually conducted by three priests, one 
chosen for his unction, — he officiates in the early morning; an- 
other with a turn for the diverting, — he speaks at noon; and one 
able to stir the awful and fearful emotions, — he preaches in the 
evening. The themes of the sermons are, during the first half 
of the Retreat, death, judgment, hell; it is the "Purgative Life." 
Then follows the "Illuminative Life"; it treats of the love of 
God, the work of the Holy Ghost, etc. 

The children's Retreats last usually six days. Some priests 
have made a reputation by their successes with children. One of 
them, a curate of Notre-Dame-du-Mont, had from 300 to 400 
children yearly. The last day of a retreat he would lock the 
doors of the church and forbid even the sexton to walk about. 
The church was darkened ; a pall stretched out before the sanctu- 
ary bore a crucifix and two holy candles. In this artfully pre- 
pared temple he would preach a sixty minutes' discourse on 
Christ's Passion, describing with minute realism every detail of 
the crucifixion, the thorns penetrating into the skin, the blood 
trickling down the face, the moral anguish of the loving Savior, 
etc. Before he was half through his sermon, sobs would break 
out and spread among the terrified children, — the day was won. 
When in this state, they were sent to confession. One of these 
professional convert-makers refused his subordinate permission to 
limit a Retreat to three days. "Do you not know, said he, that 
it is only on the 5th or the 6th day, when the children begin to 
be enervated, that we obtain results?" 

Although extremely incomplete, the preceding comparative 
study warrants, in our opinion, the conclusion that the religious 
experiences we have considered, instead of being looked upon as 

*The "Spiritual Exercises" of Loyola and its adaptation to popular 
needs under the title "Fleurs et Fruits de Manreze" are admirable applica- 
tions of the finer points of the psychology of suggestion to the art of con- 
duct. 

205 



TKANCE AND SUGGESTION IN THE CHEISTIAN BELIGION. 

sufficient evidence for the existence of superhuman, personal 
agents operating upon man, should be regarded as due to the 
potency obtained by appropriate ideas when communicated to 
persons in a peculiarly favorable psycho-physiological condition, 
i. e., a condition of "increased suggestibility. 77 

The grace of God becomes, according to this view, a power 
inherent in human nature instead of an alien force. Thus psy- 
chological science finds itself in agreement with what seems the 
only interpretation that can be put upon the central idea of the 
theology in process of formation: the Immanence of God. 

That the forces at play in religious life, among Christians as well as 
among barbarians are properly classified as suggestive forces, has long 
been believed by many. It is the prevalent opinion among professional psy- 
chologists. But the scientific work, which will scrutlrrze the phenomena of 
the higher religious life, and bring to bear upon the thesis here maintained 
all the weight of the facts now accessible, has not yet appeared. The fol- 
lowing works contain valuable information: 

"Suggestion u. Hypnotismus in der Volkerpsychologie," Otto Stoll (1894). 

"L'Hypnotisme dans la Genese des Miracles." Felix Regnault (1894). 

"The Spiritual Life," by. Geo. A. Coe (1900). 

"La Foule Criminelle," Scipio Sighele (1892). 

"La Psychologie des Foules," Le Bon. 

"Epidemics in the Middle Ages," Heeker. 



206 



HOW TO HYPNOTIZE AND AWAKEN A SUBJECT. 

EDWARD H. ELDRIDGE, A. M., Professor of Psychology, Temple 
College, Philadelphia. 

In commencing your experiments in hypnotism, the selection 
of a suitable subject is a point of vital importance. After the 
subject has been secured, endeavor by every means at your dis- 
posal, to convince or persuade him that you are a master of the art. 
Endeavor to inspire confidence. Remove from the subject any 
apprehensions he may have as to the injurious effects of hypnosis. 
Explain to him the nature of hypnotism and disabuse his mind of 
the common belief that hypnotism implies the influence of a 
strong mind over a weak one. It is practically impossible to hyp- 
notize a man who is not willing to do as you say ,and a man who 
sits down with an "hypnotize-me-if-you-can" expression does not 
make a good subject. 

I shall endeavor to explain briefly how to hypnotize and how 
to awaken a subject. Before describing hypnosis proper and ex- 
plaining how to induce it, let us endeavor to produce some physi- 
cal effects which although not properly hypnotic, will enable us 
to judge better as to the susceptibility of our subject and possibly 
to inspire him with greater confidence for further tests. 

HOW TO MAKE A SUBJECT FALL BACKWARD. 

After you have secured, as much as possible, the confidence 
and willingness of the person with whom you are about to experi- 
ment, request him to stand in front of you with his eyes closed, 
his feet together, and his arms hanging loosely at his sides. Tell 
him to try to think what it would feel like if he were falling over 
backward. Ask him not to try to fall, and not to resist the ten- 
dency to fall. Explain to him that there is no possible danger in 
this, and that if he should fall you will catch him. 

When you are certain he understands you perfectly, take your 
position back of him, and, using both hands, gently stroke his 
forehead from the middle, back toward the sides. Continue this 
slow stroking for some time, suggesting at the same time, in a 
low, monotonous tone, "Now you feel like falling — you find you 

207 



. 



HOW TO HYPNOTIZE AND AWAKEN A SUBJECT. 

are coming over backward; back-back-back." Vary the stroking 
of the forehead by running your finger down the back of the 
head until you reach the hollow part of the neck. Press on this 
a little and then gradually pull the finger away and downward. 

In many cases you will find by this time a tendency to sway 
over backward. Some will simply sway and will resist; others 
will fall suddenly; a few will seem not to be affected at all. If 
you are not successful on the first trial, make another attempt. 
With repeated trials you will find that a very large proportion of 
those you try will tend to fall backward. 

It sometimes happens that when they fall backward they keep 
their eyes closed and seem to be asleep. If this is the case, simply 
clap your hands together, or snap your fingers, and say in a de- 
cided tone, "All right !" Very few of the subjects, however, will 
go to sleep in this experiment. They are not hypnotized in the 
sense we generally use the word, although they are unconsciously 
acting out' your suggestion. ■ ' 

HOW TO CAUSE A SUBJECT TO FALL FORWARD. 

In this experiment request the subject to stand facing you 
with his eyes open and feet together. Have him look directly into 
your eyes, or at a small, bright object which you hold a few 
inches in front of his eyes. Request him to imagine what it would 
feel like to fall toward you. Stare at him steadily for a few mo- 
ments and then gradually draw yourself, or the object at which 
he is gazing, away from him and downward. Do not move too' 
rapidly and stop if you see there is not a tendency on his part to 
follow. 

If you perform this experiment carefully, you will find that 
in many cases the subject will fall toward you. There is very 
little likelihood of his going to sleep, and if he does, he can be 
awakened in the same manner as in the preceding experiment. 

HOW TO CLASP THE HANDS TOGETHER. 

After placing the subject on a chair in a comfortable position, 
request him to clasp his hands together with the arms straight 
and the fingers interlocked. Stand in front of him and request 
him to stare into your eyes. While he is staring at you, slowly 
stroke his arms downwards and say to him, "You will find your 

208 



HOW TO HYPNOTIZE AND AWAKEN A SUBJECT. 

arms are getting stiff. The muscles are becoming more and more 
rigid. Your elbow joint is getting so you cannot bend it and your 
fingers are getting stuck fast together. Your arms are stiff, you 
cannot bend them. Your hands are sticking tighter and tighter 
together." Be very careful that the subject continues to look 
directly into your eyes. If his attention wanders for a moment, 
say to him sharply, "Look at me ! Look at me !" and then con- 
tinue with the formula already given. 

If you succeed in convincing the subject of your earnestness 
and ability, ,in a very short time you will notice a faraway look in 
his eyes, and at this time his hands will probably be stuck to- 
gether. When you think he has reached this stage (and it is 
quite possible to talk to him so long that he will reach and pass it) ^ 
say to him, "Now your hands are stuck fast, fast, fast; it is impos- 
sible for you to take them apart; they are stuck fast together. 
Try to get them apart. You canit do it. Try again. You can't 
succeed, but try." 

In many cases it will be utterly impossible for the subject to 
unclasp his hands. In some instances they will stick a little, but 
with the exertion he will be able to open them. In a few cases 
there will be no feeling whatever. Do not permit the subject to 
remain under this strain of endeavoring to pull his hands apart 
for too long a period, but when you are convinced that he cannot 
succeed in getting them apart, clap your hands together, or snap 
your fingers and say to him, "All right !" and you will find he 
can take his hands apart without any difficulty. 

Let me guard you especially against losing control of your- 
self. Don't forget that the subject will in a measure act as you 
suggest. If the subject should not be able to take his hands apart 
at once when you tell him to, do not allow yourself to become 
hysterical. If you do, there is danger that he may become excited 
or hysterical in imitation. Tell him decidedly that he is all right, 
that he can now take his hands apart; and you will find no diffi- 
culty. 

It is possible to produce many muscular effects similar to the 
above, without putting the subject to sleep. Among those which 
are frequently tried may be mentioned that of causing the sub- '■. 
ject to forget his name. In this you stare at him as before, move 

209 



^ 



HOW TO HYPNOTIZE AND AWAKEN A SUBJECT. 

your fingers around the muscles of his mouth and suggest to him 
that he cannot open his mouth. It is also possible, by the same 
method, to make one leg stiff at the knee joint so the subject can- 
not bend it. Another interesting experiment is that of causing 
the subject to rotate his hands around each other, imitating your 
motion. Suggest to him that his hands are going faster and 
faster, and finally tell him he cannot stop them. In many cases 
the subject will not be able to discontinue the motion. 

It is possible to cause these muscular contractions without 
sleep, and some writers would say they could not properly be in- 
cluded under hypnosis. That is a matter upon which opinions 
may differ, but they are certainly conditions in which the subject 
is more susceptible to suggestion than in his normal life. 

Before we consider how to put a subject to sleep, let me warn 
you once more to be very careful to convince your subject before 
you begin, that you know just what you are talking about. Try to 
explain to him that it is not the weak-minded who are the besr 
hypnotic subjects, and that the question of being hypnotized does 
not depend at all upon the strength of will. 

Never for a moment lose control of yourself or your subject. 
If he does not arouse the first time you tell him to, do not be- 
come frightened. The subject will very quickly observe any ex- 
citement on your part and is apt to be influenced by it. If he sees 
you are nervous, he grows nervous, and the result mav be a severe 
case of hysteria, which although it is not likely to do any espe- 
cial harm, is not pleasant, and will probably influence people, 
and justly so, against permitting you to experiment with them. 
If you cannot control your own feelings, do not try to hypnotize. 

HOW TO PRODUCE SLEEP. 

There are several methods which may be employed in putting 
a person into a hypnotic sleep. They all have as a foundation the 
tiring of some one of the sense organs. The most common way 
of operating is to place the subject in a comfortable position and 
hold a bright object like a silver lead pencil holder, a small coin, 
or something of this nature in front and a little above the eyes. 
Have him stare at the object steadily, until there is a perceptible 
drooping of the eyelids and dilation of the pupil. "When the sub- 
ject has reached this stage, tell him to go to sleep. Kepeat the 



HOW TO HYPNOTIZE AND AWAKEN A SUBJECT. 

suggestion that he is going to sleep, many times, and sleep will 
frequently follow. 

Sometimes a headache follows the induction of hypnosis by 
the staring method. For this reason many experimenters prefer 
to use a method which does not necessitate the prolonged strain 
upon the eyes. An example of this method may be given as fol- 
lows: 

Place the subject in a chair, with the head leaning back, as 
comfortably as possible. Ask him to look you intently in the 
eyes, as you stand in front of him. Move your hands slowly 
across his forehead from the middle to the outside, saying to him 
in a monotonous tone, "Your eyelids are getting heavy, and your 
eyes are becoming watery. Your eyelids are getting heavier and 
heavier and you cannot keep them open any longer. You are get- 
ting more and more sleepy, sleepy, sleepy. You are going to 
sleep, fast asleep, sleep, sleep." You will generally find this 
"talking sleep" and the smoothing of the forehead sufficient. 
When the eyes close, and the subject appears to be asleep, sug- 
gest to him, "Now you are asleep, your head is getting heavy; it 
will fall over to one side," slightly pressing the forehead on the 
side opposite to that toward which you wish it to fall. "Your 
head is getting heavier, heavier all the time. You cannot hold it 
up. You are fast asleep, sleep, sleep." If the head falls over, 
you may be reasonably sure that the subject is in a sleep in which 
he will accept many suggestions. 

Nearly all persons can be hypnotized to some extent. r A very 
large proportion can be put to sleep. But the number who can 
be made to follow suggestions while sleeping is very much 
smaller. When you are sure that the subject is asleep, you can 
suggest numerous illusions to him, but be careful not to suggest 
more than one at a time, and always remove the first suggestion 
before you give the second. 

FLOWER'S METHOD FOR PRODUCING SLEEP. 

Before giving a few instances of illusions created by sugges- 
tion, we will give another method for putting subjects to sleep. 
This method was suggested by Sydney Flower, the editor of "Sug- 
gestive Therapeutics," and in my own practice I have found it one 
of the most effective ways of producing hypnosis. 



HOW TO HYPNOTIZE AND AWAKEN A SUBJECT. 

The essential thing about Dr. Flower's method is, that while 
the operator slowly counts, the subject should open and close his 
eyes, keeping time with the counting. Several modifications of 
this method have been used. Probably the simplest one is the 
following: Place the subject in as comfortable position as possi- 
ble, and standing in front of him, look into his eyes and have him 
look into yours. Tell him that you are going to count to him 
slowly, and that as you say each number you wish him to close 
his eyes, then to open them and be ready to close them again by 
the time you name the next number. For instance you slowly 
count, "One-two-three-four-five," etc. At each count, the sub- 
ject closes his eyes and opens them before the next count. You 
will find, as you continue the counting, that the period during 
which the eyes remain open becomes shorter, and finally, instead 
of the eyes opening, there will probably be only a movement of 
the eyebrows. 

Many subjects will go to sleep under this method by the time 
you have counted fifteen or twenty, and it is rarely necessary to 
count over one hundred. When you find the eyes have closed, 
and the subject does not seem to be able to open them, instead of 
continuing the counting, begin to say, (and be sure you don't 
change the rythm of your previous tones) "Sleepy, sleepy,— - 
you are going to sleep, — fast, fast asleep, asleep, asleep." 

HOW TO CREATE ILLUSIONS. 

It is easier to create an illusion than a hallucination; that is, it 
is easier to give a man a cane or an umbrella and tell him it is a 
fishing rod and make him believe it, than it is to convince him 
that he holds a fishing rod in his hand when really there is noth- 
ing there. 

Suppose you desire to make a man go fishing. After putting 
him to sleep by one of the methods described, say to him, "Now 
when you open your eves, you will see a beautiful stream. You 
will go fishing in this stream." Say this to him slowly, decidedly 
and convincingly. Repeat the idea to him several times, and 
then say, "Now open your eyes. See the water? Here is a fish- 
ing rod." 

He will open his eyes, and at first may appear somewhat 
dazed. You point to the carpet in front of him and say, "Now 



HOW TO HYPNOTIZE AND AWAKEN A SUBJECT. 

you see that stream, why don't you go fishing?" In many cases 
the subject will accept the suggestion. 

I do not intend to describe in detail the numerous illusions 
which may be produced by means of hypnosis. The one illustra- 
tion will show the method to be employed in all cases. Sugges- 
tion is the key-note to hypnotism. The thing to be done first, is 
to put the subject into a deep sleep, then tell him just what you 
want him to do. Make your instructions brief, clear and em- 
phatic. Almost any illusion may be produced by simply suggest- 
ing it to the subject when he is deeply asleep. 

Subjects will frequently decline to do things which are op- 
posed to their ideas of right, or to their inclination. It is some- 
times almost impossible to get a hypnotized subject to take a 
drink of whisky. I have had difficulty in persuading a diffident 
man to make a speech. This element of self-suggestion is one 
we must consider. The subject's self-suggestion must be over- 
come before he will comply with your request. Sometimes these 
self-suggestions may be overcome by repeated suggestions on 
your part, but it is often impossible to persuade a man to do some- 
thing to which he is strongly opposed. 

HOW TO AWAKEN" A SUBJECT. 

In nearly all cases a slight shock, such as the snapping of the 
fingers or the clapping of the hands, repeated a few times, to- 
gether with the assurance, "You are all right. Wake up !" will 
be found sufficient. 

If, however, the subject does not arouse immediately upon 
your suggestion, remember there is no danger in hypnotic sleep. 
Xet me repeat once more, "Do not lose control of yourself. Do 
not let the subject see you are losing control of him." The sub- 
ject will awaken of his own accord if left alone, or rather, he will 
pass from a hypnotic into a natural sleep, and will awaken at the 
proper time. 

It is wise before attempting to arouse the subject, to suggest 
to him, "Now I am going to awaken you, and you will feel all 
right. Your head will be clear, and you will feel just as though 
you have had a refreshing sleep." A suggestion of this kind fre- 
quently saves a slight headache which some subjects are liable to, 
especially when hypnosis has been induced by means of staring. 

2T 3 



HOW TO HYPNOTIZE AND AWAKEN A SUBJECT. 

Sometimes we find a subject who will not awaken at the 
simple command and the snapping of the fingers. Fanning is 
sometimes of assistance in such a case, and blowing on the eyes 
will frequently arouse the subject when a simple command will 
not. In rare cases the subject refuses to awaken even after the 
fanning and the blowing on the eyes. The difficulty seems to be 
that he realizes he is so deeply asleep that it appears impossible for 
him to awaken so quickly. In this case it is wise to talk to him in 
this fashion, "Now, I want you to wake up, and I am going to 
count five. Will you promise to wake when I reach that num- 
ber?" After getting his promise, count slowly, and as you say 
"Five," dap your hands together suddenly and say sharply, 
"Now you are all right, wake up." Kepeat this two or three 
times and the subject will probably awaken. 

If the subject still refuses to arouse, tell him that he must 
wake up, that you won't permit him to sleep any longer, that he 
is simply making a fool of himself, and he must wake up. Tell 
him that you will give him five minutes more and then he must 
awaken. Go away from him, return at the end of five minutes 
and say, "Now you are all right, and this time you are going to 
awaken. You understand?" Make him answer you, if possible, 
and then tell him, "Now when I count five you will be wide 
awake and feel all right." Count five. Strike the hands to- 
gether as before. 

Don't hurry the subject too much. He feels very sleepy and 
it seems to him impossible to arouse so quickly. Sometimes you 
will find that he will awaken and then go to sleep again. In cases 
of this kind, it is wise to give the suggestion before you arouse 
him, that when he wakes up he will be all right and will not be 
sleepy, but will stay awake. Impress this on him and then arouse 
him. 

In rare cases it has been necessary to walk the subject about 
the room, to beat the soles of the shoe with a book, to even strike 
the face with wet towels. But remember this, there is no danger 
to the subject if he does not awaken immediately. He will simply 
go into an ordinary sleep. Kemember this also, in ninety-nine 
out of one hundred subjects there is not the slightest difficulty in 
awakening them. 

214 



PERSONAL MAGNETISM. 

By J. C. QUINN, Ph. D., D. D. 

The task now before us is to convey to the mind of the 
student what is meant by "Personal Magnetism." Personal 
Magnetism is commonly known as the art of making one's self 
pleasing to people, — impressing people favorably, — but we must 
go under the surface of things and reach the deeper significance 
of the term. 

You have been acquainted with people who were intensely 
magnetic, or you have known them by reputation. Spurgeon, 
Beecher, Moody, were very magnetic men — they attracted people 
to them by their personal magnetism. They, in this way, influ- 
enced people to their good by their powers of attraction. What 
was the source of this power? It was a subtle nerve force that 
exerted itself through personal will power. Beecher made it his 
special business to get and keep the attention of the people to 
whom he addressed himself. All who heard him felt his great 
power as an orator. Here we have, then, the cause or source of 
this magnetism in the will power of the individual, which sends 
the vital nerve force out upon an audience to persuade to better 
living. Thus we perceive in this case, the cause and the effect. 
In other words, personal magnetism enables you to attract people 
— to interest people — to please people to their good and your ad- 
vantage. 

By personal magnetism you seek to make people among whom 
you move in society or in business, think well of you. If you 
want to have people think well of you, you must be what you are, 
— you must think of them the thoughts you would have them 
think of you. If, then, you would have power over people in 
general, your thoughts of mankind must be pure and elevating. 
If you entertain thoughts of kindness, you are certain to reap a 
harvest in kind, for it is written, "Whatsoever a man soweth, that 
shall he also reap." Like produces like. The thoughts you have 
about people, they will have about you. A smile begets a smile, 
so kind thoughts produce, as a reflex effect, kind thoughts. The 

215 



PEKSONAL MAGNETISM. 

philosophy of this is manifest. If you are living daily in the 
vibrations of love and kindness, all those who associate with you 
will feel the attraction of your loving and kindly thoughts, and as 

(a consequence be attracted toward and be helpful to you. Herein 
lies the secret of Personal Magnetism. 

Personal Magnetism is implicit obedience to what is know as 
the law of agreement. Your thoughts produce like thoughts in 
those with whom you associate, with the result that you control 
them as they are attracted toward you. If we are to control 
people we must become well acquainted with them — study their 
moods and their temperament, their habits of thought and their 
environment. We know that people can be controlled — that they 
are controlled, religiously, politically, socially and personally. 
When we analyze the phenomenon, we find that it is the effect of 
a very wonderful cause, — the Law of Agreement. A given train 
of thought produces a similar line of thought among the people 
with whom we are intimate. This law of agreement is of very 
wide application. It can be utilized in every vocation in life, — 
in politics, in literature, in the pulpit, at the bar, in mercantile 
and agricultural life, in the home circle. 

In all these vocations, if we would draw people toward us, we 
must be attractive — magnetic to them. We must be careful to 
think of them the thoughts we would have them think concerning 
us. This is personal magnetism at work. The field is a wide one : 
there is ample room for us all; we must always lead; we must 
have self-confidence without egotism, if we would control people. 



216 



MEMORY AND SUGGESTION. 

By EDWARD FRANKLIN BUCHNER, Ph. D., Professor of Analytical 

Psychology, New York University. 

One of the startling, yet essential activities of the human 
mind is its ability to reach backward from the present moment 
and to reinstate the ideal values of the chief features of its past 
experiences. This is the conserving action, which alone enables 
a mind's experience to thicken and to widen. Several sorts of 
words are in vogue to describe this mode of consciousness. It is 
called revival, reproduction, remembering, knowing, etc. That 
this activity is constantly in evidence in normal mental states, 
there can be no question. That it embraces the contents of all 
possible forms of sense-impression, idea, and action is assuredly 
attested by the crassest analysis of the extent and quality of the 
average individual's attitude towards himself and to the things 
which surround him. 

How is it that the mind is able to remember? How shall we 
understand this weird proceeding of re-vivifying the dead and 
gone past? However far it may be, that one has led himself 
from entertaining and depending upon the half-mediaeval view 
that this activity is the particular and inseparable function of a 
distinct faculty, or disposition, of the mind, it remains forever 
true, that he cannot dispense in his analyses with all reference 
to that which the old-time "faculty" meant. An analysis of con- 
sciousness cannot be accurate, nor claim any approach to ex- 
haustiveness, which does not recognize remembering as one of its 
-most highly specialized activities that has its roots and beginnings 
in the lowest and unorganized forms of mental experience. ~No 
attempt to depict the nature and scope of the development of that 
mental experience can be successful without turning our atten- 
tion ever and anon to the support afforded to that development 
by the variety and intensity of the material presented in the per- 
formances of memory. The make-up and the forward push of a 
mind are thus conditioned by the scope of its ability to conserve 
the past stages of its development. This truth does not warrant 
one in presuming that every item contained in passing conscious 
experience must be preserved "for future use." 

217 



MEMORY AND SUGGESTION. 

Too often, on the other hand, "memory" is regarded as a re- 
ceptacle for a few specific things; as, when one can recall the 
dates of certain historical events so many years after having first 
learned those facts; this, for example, is said to be the special 
office of memory. This is too abstract a way, however, of noting 
the intricacy of mental action. Indeed, we are constantly com- 
mitting. so to speak, the contents of onr passing experience to our 
memories, although we are not consciously aware of doing so 
(excepting those relatively few instances when we insist to our- 
selves that a or & must b>e remembered, etc.). It is sufficient to 
observe that, not only is all mental experience primarily depen- 
dent upon sense and motor impressions, but clear and intense 
normal consciousness is constantly dependent upon the activity 
of true memory. 

The knowledge we get in every act of remembering is com- 
plex, rather than simple. Retaining the "idea" of a given fact 
or event, recalling that idea at any given time, and being able to 
recognize it as this idea, rather than that idea, in my experience, 
— i. e., to discriminate it with its specific historical attachments 
from all other ideas, — all this is involved in a full act of memory. 
Ordinarily these phases appear in a varying order from time to 
time, except that recognition is logically and psychologically de* 
pendent upon retention and revival. The appropriate images 
must be "brought up" into consciousness before the act of mem- 
ory can be said to occur. Memory, then, requires original ex* 
perience, some sort of a retention of the "traces" of the neural 
conditions thereof, a revival of an image, or idea, which stands 
for the original experience by reason of being derived from it, 
and a recognition of this symbol] zation by putting the meaning 
of the reproduction into the proper past time of my own experi- 
ence. !A11 of which is more or less modified by feelings of belief 
or disbelief in the value of the representation. Retention is 
purely physiological. Reproduction depends upon the so-called 
laws of association, namely the tendency of one idea to link itself 
dynamically to other ideas. The element of recognition is essen- 
tially dependent upon the cognitive act of the mind. 

"Suggestion" is nowadays one of the most familiar terms in 
the entire vocabulary of psychology. The term is used in a "sug- 

218 



MEMORY AND SUGGESTION. 

gestive" way in the treatment of normal consciousness with ref- 
erence to the cohesion of ideas and other mental states implied in 
the association of ideas and other processes of ideation. As it is 
said, almost universally now, the presence of a given idea (a; in 
consciousness "suggests" the idea (b), tending to bring b into iie 
clear circle of consciousness. To explain the appearance of a men- 
tal state by suggestion, is to imply that its factors dominate by 
having been forced into the sphere of consciousness. This dy- 
namic aspect pertains to suggestion throughout its application. 
It is well illustrated by the fact that hypnotic suggestions, to be 
efficient, must be made in the form of commands, rather than as 
simple declarations or mild entreaties. The spontaneity of the 
realization of the content of a suggestion is one of its most strik- 
ing peculiarities, though this is not always constant. In most 
idea-motor suggestions, the ratio of realization to the intensity of 
the suggestion varies directly, if one might speak in mathematical 
terms. 

The use of the term "suggestion" has been increased particu- 
larly through the analysis of hypnosis offered by the Nancy 
school during the last thirty-five years (Liebault, Bernheim, 
Moll) It is the key offered for most, if not all, of the phenomena 
presented bv hypnosis. As an explanation, it can be considered 
only as a mode of introducing something to the mind. It is 
"carrying" ideas into the mind covertly, so to speak, and ab- 
ruptly from without. It is a means of addressing the attention of 
the subject through channels more complex than those of ordi- 
nary sensory and motor stimulation. It is important to observe 
that suggestion, as a cause, is rather a psychological factor than 
a physiological factor. This must be kept in mind constantly. It 
is emphasized by a consideration of the particular tenets of the 
three great schools of abnormal psychology, to which reference 
only can be made here. It may be necessary to observe, in pass- 
ing, that many of the phenomena to be mentioned are not pro- 
duced by suggestion solely, but may arise out of a number of 
conditions, such as fatigue, imperfect nutrition, disease, injury, 
etc. 

In the more pronounced states of suggestibility, the changes 
which the mind undergoes are many and profound. These 

219 



MEMORY AND SUGGESTION. 

changes tend to throw light "upon the data belonging to this 
special field of investigation. Rational activity tends to continue 
along the lines of the individual's intellectual habits. Perception 
becomes modifiable even to the degree of producing hallucina- 
tion and delusions of almost all possible types. Sensibility to 
minute and weak stimulations is, or can be, increased. Anaes- 
thesia is quite as easily induced, especially in deep sleep. The 
motor consciousness is let loose, so to speak, and the ordinary 
control of muscles seems to be exactly inverted. Emotional ex- 
citability is apt to be subdued. In a general way, there results 
a depression or an exaltation of mental activity; but which type 
of change from the normal will take place cannot be told a 
priori, — so varied and often contradictory are the phenomena 
presented. Mental activities are not absolutely suspended (ex- 
cepting more or less imperfectly in cataleptic sleep). The struc- 
tural phases of mind remain the same as in normal consciousness. 
Thus retaining, reproducing, and recollecting the varied forms 
of sensory, ideational, and motor contents of hypnoses continue, 
and offer their special problems for investigation. 

It is not an easy matter for the psychologist to analyze the 
two forms of memory presented under normal and under hyp- 
notic conditions. General mental healthiness is, to both the lay 
and the trained mind, indicated by the scope and degree of accu- 
racy of the function of remembering. To forget indiscrimi- 
nately is a sign of a '"'break-down." Every one is ordinarily ex- 
pected to remember more or less of the details of his experience. 
The psychologist must never forget that the standard for evalu- 
ating all experiments and reports of isolated cases is necessarily 
that which can be afforded by what we may call normal memory. 
The difficulties besetting an application of this standard of mem- 
ory conditions and memory contents to the results obtained in a 
state of suggestibility, increase as it is observed that students of 
hypnosis are never the subjects thereof, at least at the time being. 
The psychologist usually must here trust the introspection of his 
subjects, or place absolute dependence in his own inference on 
the basis of the mental expressions of the subjects. 

Another aspect of these difficulties reveals that they are in- 



MEMORY AND SUGGESTION. 

herent and irremovable. The development of conscious, or nor- 
mal memory is necessary for the formation of an individuality, 
both in sensation, idea, and action. One's name, one's body, one's 
environment, one's attitude towards the things within that envi- 
ronment, represent a stage of recognition far, far beyond that 
possessed by the child, for example, and involve a constant de- 
pendence upon remembering the respective values of different 
sense-impressions. Hypnotic memory, on the contrary, arises 
with all its depression or exaltation, only after the formation of 
such an individuality, and then, within a short time, runs through, 
the gamut of its manifestations. In other words, the facts under 
consideration are never discerned through any suggestive treat- 
ment of infantile consciousness. It is adult experience that re- 
veals the two types of memory, a condition which all inference 
should not forget. 

There is a certain and a marked amount of volitional con- 
trol over the course of ideas in normal memory. We can revive 
images, and so forth, "at will." In hypnotic memory, this con- 
trol is more or less completely displaced. The mind waits for the 
operator's suggestions, verbally or otherwise given. Then the 
ideas appear with automatic regularity and accuracy. The ordi- 
nary perceptions by the senses do not apparently fall under this 
volitional control, as in the perception of a chair, or a piece of 
colored paper. The unimpaired memory serves as a regulator to 
perceptual consciousness, and prevents those hallucinations and 
delusions of perception which mark the mental activity in the 
trance. 

Ordinary memory shows more than merely associative con- 
nections in any given remembered series of ideas. Hypnotic 
memory lacks this continuity, which is of a high intellectual and 
selective variety. The latter rather follows adhesively the scope 
and character of the suggestion which serves as the awakening 
cue, modified, as in all other forms of mental action, by the 
habits and interests of the individual subject. It is scrappy and 
patchy. It is less dependent upon sensory and motor conditions 
than is normal memory. Sidis's patient "F" remembered that 
the umbrella was just long enough for him to finish the third 
turn in the walk suggested, after which it suddenly fell from his 



MEMORY AND SUGGESTION. 

hands. These lapses in the continuity of abnormal memory em- 
phasize its absolute dependence upon the degree of the sugges- 
tion. These lapses are sudden and frequent, and limit the intelli- 
gent reaction of the subject to his suggestions. There is some- 
thing analogous to this trait in normal consciousness. All adher- 
ents of every school of psychology agree in admitting, and truth- 
fully, the fact of the "disappearance of some of the links of con- 
sciousness, 'as completely as if they had never formed a part of 
the series. 7 " But few persons recall when they learned their 
A, B, (7s, or the names of members of the family, etc. Most of 
our knowledge is buried in its origin by being assimilated into 
the very fibres of mental activity. The explanation offered for 
this phenomenon varies, of course, with the tenets of the respec- 
tive schools. 

Another feature of memory under the conditions of normal 
consciousness is that the reproductions of past experiences and. 
ideas are notably inexact. Though, for the purpose of our knowl- 
edge and our conduct with things and persons these reproductions 
are valid and adequate, yet they are, as a matter of fact, frag- 
mentary and symbolical when compared with the fullness and 
richness in vivacity and content of the original forms of these 
ideas. Mental life (normally) could not get forward were it 
impossible to abridge the memories of its past. The chief aim of 
the processes of ideation is to force the many members of a series 
of ideas into the fewest possible ideas, which shall literally be 
representative. In hypnotic consciousness and all weaker forms 
of susceptibility to suggestion, the reproductions of memory tend 
to be, and most often are, exact and literal. This is one of the 
strange and complex effects of suggestion upon mental states of 
low volitional tone. "Latent memory" (Sir William Hamilton) 
seems to be most amenable to this condition, in which we secure 
a "prodigious" (Hudson), but a simple reproduction of past ex- 
periences. Normal consciousness tends to inhibit this latent 
memory through the incessantly varying high degrees of voli- 
tional control of the complicated associative systems, into which 
the mind is disposed to arrange its ideas both through the lines of 
conscious experience and through its relation of dependence upon 



MEMORY AND SUGGESTION. 

the associational structure of the brain. Accuracy of reproduc- 
tion, as "committing a thing to memory," is ordinarily brought 
about through repetition of the series to be remembered. This 
often requires great expenditure of time and effort (Ebbinghaus). 
Under conditions of suggestion, simple reproduction is more eas- 
ily assured through the mere passive acceptance of the sugges- 
tion that certain facts will be remembered. 

What we remember ordinarily, as already observed, depends 
more immediately upon the right associative connections of the 
type of contiguity. It usually happens that a little analysis will 
enable one to pick his way back through the various associations 
which have led up to the presence of this particular thing in 
mind. Indeed, the mechanism of memory is associated, i. e., 
"suggested," reproductions. Hypnotic memory, on the con- 
trary, seems to be independent of the ordinary mechanism of 
association. All post-hypnotic, or deferred suggestions, for ex- 
ample, are performed punctually at the time suggested, though 
it be days or months afterward, without the subject having con- 
sciously been led through a train of ideas to the idea of those 
actions preceding their execution. The thought of the action 
"pops" into the head impulsively, as it is described, and remains 
there until its realization is effected with more or less hesitancy. 
In the meantime, the thought has been absent from the mind. It 
is this relation of memory to suggestion which offers the princi- 
ples underlying the value of suggestion for the improvement of 
memory and the refinement of character. Purposes and resolves 
in normal consciousness are the phenomena most nearly allied to 
this relation. 

In a state of suggestibility approaching perfection, memory 
seems to lose its intensity, and the suggestion or command does 
not arouse conflicting images or ideas. ~No difficulties are pre- 
sented to the subject in this state, and as a result, one finds all 
sorts of hallucinations and absurdities taking place. Each sug- 
gestion tends to give the mind over to a certain group of ideas. 
This reign leads the attention to an almost systematic disregard 
of all stimulations which do not readily coalesce with those ideas. 
In this manner recollection tends to place definite limitations 

223 



MEMORY AND SUGGESTION. 

upon the efficiency of a suggestion to invade the whole sphere of 
consciousness. 

A last feature of memory to be noticed in this connection 
under the conditions of suggestion, is the tendency revealed on 
the part of the mental states experienced under it, at successive 
times, to build up the succession into a cluster of such memories 
to be known, sooner or later, as another consciousness or person 
(Janet's Lucie). "Double" consciousness and alternation of 
memory have their psychological causes chiefly in this feature of 
the aggregation of states experienced under like conditions. This 
trait of hypnotic memory does not advance beyond, nor fall 
short of a corresponding feature of normal memory. The hyp- 
notic egro and the empirical ego have similar histories function- 
ally considered. Memory essentially requires more than the mere 
reinstatement of ideas into consciousness and a bare recognition of 
the projective meaning of the idea, or an interpretation of the 
content of the representation. This something more is found in 
the feeling of familiarity which arises with some ideas and is ab- 
sent from others. It is the cognition of the idea as a representa- 
tive of one that has been experienced before. This activity 
secures the continuity of consciousness, and projects a world of 
facts and relations into the time behind the ever-present moment. 
Here we have the basis of our feelings of personal- identity. When 
thrown into the hypnotic trance a second or a third time the sub- 
ject tends to revive memories of the first and the second trances. 

Recurring to the foregoing analysis of memory, it may be 
concluded that suggestion has definite influence in most cases 
upon the retention of the idea or action contained in the sugges- 
tion. The mind forgets, usually, the occurrences during the 
trance, unless fortified by a definite suggestion to the contrary. 
All deferred suggestions are also illustrative of this truth. The 
modus of this retention in the associative fibres and memory 
functions of various brain centers is not known. Contrary effects 
can be produced; namely, effacement of memory traces through 
suggestion, as in anaesthesia and amnesia. It cannot be main- 
tained so easily that suggestion, as a cause, has any definite influ- 
ence upon the processes of revival. An analysis of many records 

224 



MEMORY AND SUGGESTION. 

tends to reveal the ordinary mechanism of association as opera- 
tive in the revival. There are extreme cases which seem to defy 
this interpretation. Such are the re-awakening" of childhood 
scenes, recalling the forgotten language of one's boyhood. Janet's 
Lucie No. 3 remembered the first nine years of her life; but as 
Lucie ~No. 1 she remembered nothing of this period of years. 

Further, it cannot be shown that suggestion has any influ- 
ence upon the ordinary processes of the recognitive elements in 
memory. Where lapses occur, due to positive suggestion, as in 
forgetting certain names, letters, or cards, in a given series, they 
are probably caused by the distraction of the attention from any 
shadow of an image which might be related to the items disre- 
garded. The time-relations of suggested performances are quite 
analogous. The subject wakes up punctually at the stated time. 
The deferred action is not late. Likewise in normal life, at a 
resolution before falling asleep, the sleeper will awaken at a pre- 
determined hour. The explanation for this mental action is 
wanting; but no light is thrown upon the question by maintaining 
that the processes of recognition are definitely under the control 
of suggestion. 

Although the phenomena of memory seem so fully to be 
subject to the direction and intensity of suggestion in both normal 
and hypnotic conditions, it would be erroneous to rest in the 
belief that this influence is unlimited. The first and constant 
limitation is to be found in the dependence of suggestion for its 
material, so to speak, upon the resources set up by normal mem- 
ory. Suggestion alone cannot evoke the ability to speak in 
"unknown tongues," nor the use of a language to which wakeful 
attention has never been directed. This dependence of suggesti- 
bility upon the prior limitations of ordinary experience is beauti- 
fully illustrated in the case of "Dolinin" (Kandisky). The confi- 
dence of the subject in the operator or in the suggestions, also 
determine? the extent of their influences upon the processes of 
memory. As is well known, skeptical, critical subjects are unfit 
for the usual tests. The scope of a suggestion's effects is no less 
often bounded hy the constant tendency of the mind, in the 
fainter stages of suggestibility, to carry on an indiscriminate in- 

225 



MEMORY AND SUGGESTION, 

"weaving of facts remembered from normal life, (Carpenter's 
"0"). This interaction of memory and suggestion is also abun- 
dantly illustrated in the play of animal-games by children. Sug- 
gestions lose their power when they tend to contradict the habit- 
ual modes of the subject's thought and action. This is particu- 
larly true in nearly all cases of double consciousness. 

A consideration of the limitations of suggestion by remem- 
bering ideas, actions, and impulses from ordinary life, and con- 
versely, the limitations of memory due to definite sugggestion, 
throws a flood of light upon the practical importance of sugges- 
tion in the improvement of memory and the development of 
character. This didactic topic is, however, beyond the scope of 
the present discussion, and cannot be taken up here. 



226 



HYPNOTISM IN MORAL EDUCATION. 

By EDWARD D. STARBUCK, Assistant Professor of Education, Stan- 
' ford University. 

Three well established facts have, in recent years, greatly 
strengthened the conviction that hypnotism may be of service in 
moral disorders. The first of these is its utility as a therapeutic 
agent in certain classes of physical ailments. It is hardly open 
to doubt that most disorders of a functional nature yield to neu- 
ropathic suggestion when treated by a skilled operator. It must 
be conceded, too, that the term "functional" must have a wide 
interpretation when, in addition to relieving hysteria, melan- 
cholia, insomnia and the like, hypnotism is able to produce or re- 
move stigmata, can cause exudation of the blood from the skin, 
or play with the phenomena of post-hypnotic suggestion and 
double consciousness. 

The second fact which tends to establish a priori, the value of 
hypnotism in moral therapeutics, is the proof that immorality and 
•criminality have a physical basis. It follows that whatever force 
can work a physiological transformation can at the same time 
influence the quality of the mental and moral life. 

A third consideration is the close correspondence between 
'every mental state or process, whether it be a moral obsession or 
any other psychosis on the one hand, and nervous functioning on 
the other. Along with the abandonment of phrenology and the 
development of brain localization, the belief in parallelism of 
mind and body is placed beyond question. Every impulse, every 
cognition, every act or inhibition, in this point of view, is at 
least conditioned by a nervous reaction. A moral aspiration, an 
ignoble craving, or a base antipathy, each corresponds to an im- 
pulsion towards a neural discharge of a certain kind. Hypnotism, 
or phvsiological suggestion, as Pouillee chooses to designate it, 
has it within its power to induce the particular neuroses which 
underlie desired conditions in the moral consciousness and by 
repetition tends to make them permanent. 

227 



HYPNOTISM IN MORAL EDUCATION. 

"With this glimpse of the law involved in the use of hypno- 
tism in moral cures, it will have been a foregone conclusion that 
such instances as the following might occur. Bernheim records 

among his cases that of Henry H , a boy of ten. 1 The child 

was of strong constitution and somewhat lymphatic in disposition. 
His appetite was poor. He was frequently angry and naughty. 
'When his mother tried to correct him he would strike her and 
throw everything around out of reach. He was always in bad 
humor and disobedient. He seldom would go to school. Within 
a month, after six seances, Bernheim notes, "The child looks bet- 
ter; he eats with appetite, is very obedient, goes to school regu- 
larly, works well and has made some progress." In another 
month with one additional seance he had gone up ten places in 
his class, while before he was always the last. After occasional 
treatment for six months, the child was not brought back, since 
the mother believed he was completely changed. He had no 
more fits of anger, was very docile, industrious and obedient. 
Treatment of similar cases by Yoisin, Berillon, Farez, Bourdon 
and many others are more or less familiar. 2 Guy an in his excel- 
lent discussion of the question in hand* gives instances of the 
wholesome effect of hypnotism. "After the civil disturbances in 
Belgium, M. was terribly afraid of going out at nightfall; even a 
bell at that, time would make him tremble. M. Delboeuf hypno- 
tizes and reassures him and orders him to be more courageous in 
the future; his alarm disappears as if by magic and his conduct 

was modified in consequence.* Jeanne Sch , age 22, a thief 

and prostitute, lazy and slovenly, has been transformed by M. 
Voisin of the Salpetriere, — thanks to hypnotic suggestion, — into 
a submissive, obedient, honest, clean and hard-working woman. 
Tor many years she had not voluntarily opened a book; now she 
learns by heart pages of a moral work; all her affections are 
awakened and finally she has been admitted into a charitable in- 
stitution as a servant, where her conduct is irreproachable." It i& 

1. H. Bernheim. Suggestive Therapeutics, observations XLIV., p. 230. 

2. For description of cases of Berillon and Bourdon see Arthur MacDon- 
ald's "The Power of Suggestion," Phila Med. Journal, Sept. 9, 1899, and "Ped- 
agogic Hypnotism," Medical Progress, Sept., '99. 

*J. M. Gunyan, "Education and Heredity." Scribner's, 1895, p. 23-45. 
*Revue Philosophique, Aug. 1SS6. M. Delboeuf. 

228 



HYPNOTISM IN MOKAL EDUCATION. 

true this is simply substituting a pleasant for an unpleasant neu- 
rosis. Numerous cases of moral cures of the same kind have 
been affected at the Salpetriere. Even in his private practice, 
M. Voisin claims to have transformed by hypnotic suggestion, a 
woman whose character was unbearable, and to have made her 
gentle and affectionate to her husband and henceforth free from 
exhibitions of temper. In the same way Dr. Liebault, of Nancy, 
succeeded by means of a single suggestion in making a persist- 
ently idle boy diligent for a period of six weeks. 1 

Without multiplying instances, a partial list of the moral 
defects hypnotism has seemed more or less completely to relieve, 
will indicate the extent of the claim that is made for its utility. 
"Berillon has accomplished by means of suggestion the cure of 
cases of kleptomania, lying, biting the nails, cowardice, fear of 
the dark, etc." 2 "Cases of chronic alcoholism which have been 
successfully treated by hypnotic suggestion by several experi- 
menters (Forel, A. Yoisin, Ladame, Widner, Wetterstrand, Cor- 
val) belong here." 3 Others have added to these cases of irritabil- 
ity, idleness, cruelty, sexual disorders, in fact almost any species 
of moral ugliness that arises either from an over-emphasis or from 
too great weakness of any natural impulse. 

It may be asked in what way does hypnotism induce those 
attitudes which determine character? Two things, psych ologi- 
cally, are the necessary condition of a wholesome personality. The 
first of these is the quality of the perceptions and ideas which 
form the content of the conscious life; the second is the sub- 
stratum of right impulses which respond readily to the percep- 
tions and ideas. The former depends on the nature of the cereb- 
ral reactions, the latter on the reactions to which the sympathetic 
vaso-motor mechanisms are most inclined. A man's character is 
not determined by what he thinks, simply, but on whether his 
deeper nature vibrates in tune with his mental imagery, — that is, 
it is determined by what he thinks in his heart. Hypnotism in- 
fluences both these aspects of life. It is coming to be more and 

1. J. M. Guyan, op. cit. p. 10. 

2. Arthur MacDonald, Medical Progress, Sept., 1899. 

3. Moll. Hypnotism. New York, 1890. p. 232. 

229 



HYPNOTISM IN MORAL EDUCATION. 

mare conceded that it is impossible to enslave the subconscious 
self without first bringing about a certain conscious attitude. 1 The 
operator not only acts upon the conscious life, but because he can 
hold that within his control, uses it as an avenue of approach to 
the subliminal self. This once within his power there is hardly 
a limit to the reactions it is possible to produce. "As a result of 
my work/' says Dr. Sidis, "one central truth stands out clear 
before my mind and that is the extraordinary plasticity of the 
subwaking self. If you can only in some way or other succeed 
in separating the primary controlling consciousness from the 
lower one, the waking from the subwaking self, so that they no 
longer keep company, you can do anything you please with the 
subwaking self." 2 

The physiological states produced under hypnosis, we may 
readily believe, have a direct influence on character. Since the 
Lange-James conception of the emotions was put forth, the inti- 
mate connection between the condition of the vaso-motor system 
and the emotional states has been generally recognized. It is equal- 
ly evident that these and the particular ideas that gain the field of 
consciousness are closely bound up together and condition each 
other. If a bystander allows himself to be led into the shouting 
and running of a mob bent on a murderous deed, the chances are 
he has, by virtue of his thoughtless procedure, become emotion- 
ally a sympathizer and participant in their act. It is equally 
certain that, having felt the flush of excitement, the hot blood of 
the avenger of justice, and the tense muscles during the act 
of revenge, the thoughts of the person will subsequently be 
shaped by the deed and his views of life formed accordingly. The 
physiological reactions are, in a sense, father to the attitude of 
rnind. Similarly religious transformations are sometimes little 
more, originally, than induced emotional attitudes which finally 
develop into thought and activity in harmony with the initial 
impulse. Hypnotism can, under right conditions, dominate the 
vaso-motor mechanism. It can arouse in every feature and ges- 
ture the cringing and pallor of fear, the heat of anger, the frown 
of scorn, the brightness of hope and the strength of determina- 

1. Moll, op. cit. p. 267. 

2. Boris Sidis, The Psychology of Suggestion, New York, 1898. 

230 



HYPNOTISM IN MORAL EDUCATION. 

tion. Whenever it awakens the physiological counterpart of a 
wholesome impulse, it is producing the soil for the growth of 
character. 

The important consideration arises, are the changes produced 
by physiological suggestion permanent or only temporary ? Aside 
from the numerous instances in which the effect has every indi- 
cation of permanence, there are important theoretical considera- 
tions which argue that it may be so. One evidence is found in 
the phenomena of post-hypnotic suggestion. During hypnosis 
the operator suggests that hours or even days afterwards the sub- 
ject will choose a certain course of action. The subject proceeds 
with the normal course of life and does not even know the idea 
has been suggested. When the given time and occasion come 
the person irresistibly obeys the prediction, in some cases even 
when it abuses every sense of propriety. M. Delboeuf suggested 
to his maid that she embrace his guest, a young man. She carried 
the suggestion with her as an obsession she must obey in spite 
of her sense of its impropriety. As she confided to M. Delboeuf, 
it was with extreme dificulty that she resisted. Later the order 
was repeated and in the evening was obeyed. She felt as if she 
were "absolutely obliged to do it." 1 Equally powerful are sug- 
gestions of moral betterment, as when M. Berillon suggests to 
a girl of 12 that she will be regular in her habits, will be clean 
and will not be coquettish, and she is dominated by the idea. 
The hypnotist does not usually expect a complete transforma- 
tion from one seance. He follows rather the law of the formation 
of habit, A single suggestion leaves an impression on the nerv- 
ous mechanism which it obeys until crowded out by other reac- 
tions. A repetition of it may drill it in until it becomes the 
principle factor in the organization of the mental life. 

In a departure so comparatively recent as is the use of hyp- 
notism in character formation, there are limitations and cautions 
which should not be overlooked. There is the practical difficulty 
of securing operators whose skill and wisdom can be trusted. The 
work of the hypnotist is to operate upon the manifold instincts 
and impulses, the complex of which make up the personality, so 

1. Revue Philosophique, Feb., 1887, p. 123. Reported in Guyan op. cit. 9-6. 
231 



HYPNOTISM IN MORAL EDUCATION. 

that they will stand in the right relation to one another. Moral 
defects we may conceive to result, in the last analysis, from a 
lack of harmony in the native impulses. The glutton, drunkard 
and sensualist have perhaps all the impulses of the best man but 
the thousand other normal desires and longings are held down 
by the one or two overpowering ones. Let the property sense run 
riot, we have the miser or the thief. One of the highest virtues 
is kindliness among men, but if it is overdone it weakens both the 
giver and the receiver. A stimulation of the saving element of 
hardihood and self-dependence might save both. Too much of 
the same remedy, however, will make the one selfish and the other 
envious or set him to preying on his fellows. In the matter of 
the delicate adjustment of the manifold rival instincts the op- 
erator should be a profound psychologist, — should have an in- 
sight into the deeper springs of human life and their normal rela- 
tionships. As Moll points out, "As it is necessary to have some 
physical and chemical knowledge to prescribe drugs, so it is nec- 
essary for a doctor to have some psychological knowledge before 
he can use hypnotism." In lieu of this perhaps much can be 
done by the mere suggestion that such and such an undesirable 
course of action or feeling shall be abandoned. 

The operator must furthermore be a person of sterling charac- 
ter whose entire influence over the person in his power, will be 
the best. The same charges that have confronted the use of hyp- 
notism in medical practice will be present here. There is no 
scarcity of persons who are willing to use the art for selfish per- 
sonal ends. This difficulty must be overcome gradually through 
legal and social precautions.* 

The crucial question in the employment of neuropathic sug- 
gestion, centers in its effect on the will of the subject. The real 
advantage, morally, if any, must be looked for in its power to 
increase his conscious self-direction in pursuing a worthy end. 
Any disadvantage in this respect must have its ample compensa- 
tion. It must be admtted that the immediate effect of frequent 

It is conceded by those who have had the most experience in producing 
hypnosis that the danger arising from selfiish and immoral operators has 
been greatly magnified. Such suggestions encounter the auto-suggestions of 
the subject and result in dissipating the influence of the operator.— Editor. 

232 



HYPNOTISM IN MORAL EDUCATION. 

hypnosis is to subject the person to an external influence rather 
than to a subjective volition. One whom it is difficult to hypno- 
tize during the first seance yields more and more readily each 
succeeding time. Such facts have been given greater significance 
than they deserve. It is overlooked that the initial impulse in 
every new act of the will is an external suggestion. This is 
especially true of children. The will in childhood is relatively 
unformed and takes shape along the line of externally induced 
acts. Eepeated suggestion passes over into auto-suggestion. 
Hypnotism merely changes the direction of the will from a 
wrong to a right course. "Hypnotic suggestion/' says Moll, 
"and sugggestion out of hypnotism have the same aim; to deter- 
mine the subject's will in a certain direction. He is to do right, 
not unconsciously and mechanically, but with conscious will, 
which has got its direction either from hypnotic suggestion or 
from ordinary education. Suggestion sets the conscious will in 
the right direction as education does. The false views result from 
the fact that the hypnotic suggestion is taken for an unconscious 
process — a supposition which I have refuted." 1 The danger is ob- 
viated if the subject is hypnotized sparingly and at progressively 
longer intervals and is given each time a chance to act upon the 
suggestion. 

If hypnotism were resorted to for the alleviation of every 
petty defect, there is no doubt but that the will would be de- 
stroyed through habitually yielding it to external control.* Its 
true province is certainly in pathological cases or in those in 
which the moral disorder holds out against every attempt of the 
usual influences of education and of the non-hypnotic suggestion. 
It is coming to be generally recognized that many of the childish 
evils, such as lying, stubbornness, fits of anger and the like, are 
merely outcrops which come naturally at a certain period of 
development and may as naturally disappear during a later stage 
of growth. It would be a mistake to use any serious measures in 
hunting down these incidental features of development. Hypno- 

1. Moll, op. cit., p. 332. 

There is no authentic case on record in which a subject's will power has 
been impaired by repeated hypnosis. An intimate acquaintance with those 
who have been hypnotized reoeatedly for years, and a close studv of the 
effect upon their wills has failed to reveal any deleterious effect.— Editor. 

233 



HYPNOTISM IN MORAL EDUCATION. 

tism undoubtedly has a place in reformatories, especially those 
.for children, since they are in a particular way susceptible to its 
influence. It is to be hoped that it will soon be recognized as an 
efficient aid in the work of state reform schools and in municipal 
and county infirmaries. 

The distinction between the right and wrong use of hypno- 
tism in moral culture will be clearer if we distinguish between 
suggestion without hypnotism and suggestion of a distinctly neu- 
ropathic nature. The difference is only one of degree. The 
effect of every suggestion is to lift some point in the field of con- 
sciousness to a greater or less degree above the rest. It tends to 
focalize the attention upon a definite point. This is represented 
diagramatically in the accompanying figure, following somewhat 
the imagery of James and Tichener in picturing the mental life. 
If the stream of consciousness be supposed to flow out of the page 
toward the reader, each diagram will show a cross-section of it 
under different conditions. In a passive state no part of the sur- 
face of the stream is raised much above the rest. 




A. 
1. Normal con- 
sciousness in a 
state of atten- 
tion to object A. 



2. Normal con- 
sciousness under 
the influence of 
forcible sugges- 
tion of object B. 



3. Consciousness 
under extreme 
suggestion and 
attention con- 
centrated on ob- 
ject C. 



D. 

4. Abnormal 
c o n s c iousness 
under hypnosis. 



When the attention is directed on some object A, a corres- 
ponding point is brought into relief. Under normal conditions 
this is felt to have a distinct relation to the sum total of the men- 
tal states which makes up the personality (I in the figure,) and 
which is an observer of the object A. The object A is felt to 
have a relation to the rest of consciousness and carries with it 
related objects a ? a" a'", etc. The other cuts show a greater and 



2 34 



HYPNOTISM IN MORAL EDUCATION. 

greater exaggeration of the degree of attention, and a corres- 
ponding sacrifice of the other elements of consciousness, until we 
reach a condition in (4), a state of extreme hypnosis, which every 
one would acknowledge to be abnormal. In this the suggested 
idea occupies the entire field of consciousness. It has become 
sufficiently vivid to swallow up all sense of personal identity, so 
that I has completely disappeared, or rather is completely identi- 
fied with the idea D. All the manifold sensations, perceptions, 
memories and vaso-motor and sympathetic resonances which con- 
stituted the ego-feeling under normal conditions are now com- 
pletely submerged and are at the mercy of the operator. An- 
other evidence of the abnormality of the condition in (4) is that 
the object D. stands free from all related objects, — is so stripped 
of its associations that in waking consciousness the circumstances 
under which it was suggested are entirely forgotten. The hyp- 
notist cannot convince the subject, except under another hypno- 
sis, that the idea was the result of a suggestion. The dangers, 
then, are apparent: the ego-feeling is too much narrowed down, 
is of a shifting character according to the whim of the operator, 
and is allied with abnormal ideational states, while mental hy- 
giene demands that it be as inclusive and as constant as possible; 
the sphere of clear consciousness is severed from its usual intimate 
connection with the sub-conscious processes — in fact is annulled 
— and instead the entire sub-conscious self is at the mercy of the 
cramped and naked objects of attention aroused by the operator's 
suggestions. The chances are it would be safer to leave fairly 
normal subjects to the slower influence of education than to run 
the risk of distortions through an unwise use of hypnotism. 

If the above distinctions show clearly the dangers of hypno 
tism they emphasize as strongly its utility in pathological cases. 
One sees in what way it can produce almost miraculous transfor- 
mations of character. If the native instincts and impulses are 
already so much out of true proportion as to constitute an un- 
avoidable bent toward evil, it is not only justifiable but advisable 
that the dormant ones which would bring about symmetry of 
character be stimulated violently by artificial means. An idea, 
D, of honesty or chastity, or cleanliness, if forcibly enough sug- 

235 



HYPNOTISM IN MORAL EDUCATION. 

gested is, for the time, identical with the ego-feeling, i. e., — the 
person, so far as he has self -consciousness, is honest or chaste or 
clean, as the case may be. As he proceeds to order his conduct in 
accordance with the idea which possesses him, he becomes habit- 
ually so. In the course of time the breaches and inconsistencies 
in his make-up may heal, with the suggested virtue as the domi- 
nating function. 

The opportunity should not pass of pointing out finally the 
value of merely psychological suggestion as a means of moral 
education. As has been said the difference between suggestion 
and hypnotism is one of degree rather than of kind. Hypnotism 
as a moral therapeutic instrument only pictures in an exaggerated 
way the possibilities of ordinary suggestion. All the influences 
which break the even flow of consciousness and cause it to center 
itself on a specific object are a species of suggestion. The work 
of the moral teacher is to disturb the uniformity and equanimity 
of a slumbering mind, subject by reason of its passivity to moods 
and passions, and to lift up within it and before it ideas and ideals 
which determine it in the direction of worthy ends. The induced 
condition, depending on the individual instance, should be that in 
(1), (2) or (3) above. Consciousness should be focalized more or 
less intensely toward some point which the age and circumstances 
of the person warrant. The flow of personal enthusiasm, the 
strength and beauty of some character portrayed in a piece of 
fiction, the possibility of worth and achievement as set forth in 
biography or poetry, loyalty to some organization, attachment to 
a struggling cause, ideals of honor or helpfulness or the beauty of 
virtue, — to hold up these and a hundred such things before the 
view of those one wishes to help, this is the most efficient means 
of character formation. If the fact be recognized of how per- 
sistently all ideas hunt for ways of passing over into action, one 
will appreciate how nearl^ a moral obsession through a suggested 
notion is the equivalent of a virtuous character. 



236 



FUNDAMENTAL PROBLEMS OF SUGGESTION. 

By A. KTRSCHMANN, Professor of Psychology, University of Toronto. 

When the hypnotist causes the subject to perceive or to expe- 
rience that which, without the hypnotic influence would not be 
perceived or experienced, we speak of the action of the hypnotist 
as suggestion no matter whether it was purely mental (by 
thought and will), or accompanied by spoken words. Here we 
meet the first problem and one apparently specific to hypnotic 
phenomena: How is it possible that vivid sensations can be pro- 
duced by suggestion, that is, without the slightest trace of the 
proper stimulation? In thus stating the problem we make the 
silent assumption that the normal perceptions which correspond 
to reality must always be produced by physical stimulation, and 
that any state of consciousness which equals these normal per- 
ceptions in everything except its cause must be of the character 
of an abnormal or morbid state. "We think that a perception that 
is not caused by the "right" kind of stimulation is a deception, a 
fraud of some kind. But have we a right to draw such a conclu- 
sion? Have we a right to make that sharp distinction between a 
hallucination and a "real" impression? For whether an impres- 
sion is a real one or a hallucination is decided by majority. If we 
look into a stereoscope we have the complete perception of depth, 
but we say it is an illusion because we can control the sense of 
sight by the sense of touch. But who knows whether, if we had 
another sense, we would not call all our present reality illusory? 
Our dreams are not caused by the ordinary stimulation, yet the 
sensations in our dreams have often all the vividness of those in 
normal life. We rule them out as unreal, not on account of their 
deficient properties in quality and intensity, but for their lack of 
logical consistency. Where they are consistent we are often not 
able to draw a sharp line of demarcation between dreams and 
ordinary life. Suppose a man dreamed nightly of the same per- 
sons and situations so that a certain consistency prevailed in his 
dreams ; whereas in his waking hours he were placed continuously 

2J7 



THE FUNDAMENTAL PROBLEMS OF SUGGESTION. 

in the audience of ventriloquists, sleight-of-hand men, conjurors, 
and other magicians. If this were to go on for some time would 
not that man take his dreams as reality, and his real life as vexa- 
tious illusion? Who, then, guarantees to us that what we call 
real life, impressions caused by normal stimulation, is anything 
more than a consistent dream, and who guarantees to us that 
what we call our dreams is not reality made inconsistent by an 
unseen enchanter? 

Most people assume that when a man is dead he has no longer 
any sensations. But we do not know that. We know only that 
his body does not give any indication of such. The fact that 
under ordinary circumstances the existence of sensations is con- 
ditioned by physical stimuli, the presence of sense organs, etc., 
does not give us a right to conclude that sensation necessarily 
depends upon them. We reach such a conclusion simply by 
induction, and induction never carries with it absolute certainty. 
From the most exact scientific standpoint we must admit that 
states of consciousness are possible without stimulus, without 
sense organs, without a human body at all. 

In every fact we notice an element which cannot be ex* 
plained. From the point of view of causal connection everv 
state of consciousness is a miracle, for the so-called physical 
causes are just sufficient to explain the physical effects but noth- 
ing more. The sensations and emotional elements out of which 
the psychical world is built up are thrown in gratuitously. There 
has never been discovered the slightest really necessary relation 
between a sensation and its accompanying physiological pro- 
cesses, or the physical stimulus, and it lies in the very nature of 
the distinction between physical and psychical that such neces- 
sary relation will never be discovered. Thus a sensation without 
proper stimulation .is, in the last instance, not more miraculous 
than one with it; it is only less customary. It is, indeed, per- 
plexingly uncustomary to see the intellectual and emotional 
world of a man magically changed by a mere word of command 
from another man. But even these events are different only in 
degree from others which we experience every day. Between the 
hypnotized person who eats a turnip for an apple, swims across a 
dry floor, and experiences severe pain from imaginary pepper 

238 



THE FUNDAMENTAL PROBLEMS OF SUGGESTION. 

thrown into his eyes,* and the ordinary normal individual when 
experiencing a change in the flow of his mental states through 
the influence of spoken or written words there is only a differ- 
ence in degree. 

All fine art acts through suggestion, and in every case where 
a multitude or mob is moved it is done by a kind of hypnotism, 
although it is not the fashion so to call it. That is the reason 
why the great mass, the mob, (which mostly consists of respecta- 
ble people and not of mob elements), does such outrageous things 
for which the individuals composing it would never like to be, 
and never can be held responsible. The responsibility here lies 
with the hypnotizer. Whenever a crowd is led to action by a 
commanding word, gesture, or look, we have a kind of suggestion 
which is not essentially but only in degree different from the 
hypnotic. "Wherever an orator leads an audience by high sound- 
ing words, or artificial pathos, anywhere else than where the mere 
truth of his argument would lead them, we have a kind of hyp- 
notic suggestion. Also in the process of teaching, the success of 
the instructor is the greater the more he succeeds in bringing the 
will of the pupil into blind obedience to his own, that is, the more 
his influence approaches hypnotic suggestion; and, since not 
knowledge but only the preliminary conditions can be transferred 
from the teacher to the pupil, at the point where the latter grasps 
the new knowledge there is not lacking even an aspect of tele- 
pathic suggestion. 

What of this telepathy, suggestion without words, gestures, 
or other signs? This is the most inexplicable part of hypnotic 
phenomena. But have we not for ages believed in forces which 
act at a distance ? And indeed Ave have to believe, for we experi- 
ence them and cannot explain them. All continuity hypotheses 
have failed, for they can never explain the differences in density, 
the transformation of movements, and especially the. movements 
of an enantiomorphous character. Atomic theories, also, have 
failed for they do not solve the difficulty; they divide the great 

*The pepper experiments by professional hypnotizers are, at least, in part, 
a, fraud. They give the subject half a teaspoonful of pepper, but they are 
very careful to put it far back on the tongue, where the sensitiveness for 
pepner i s not so very great. They throw imaginary pepper into the sub- 
ject's eyes with great effect, but I have never seen them throw real pepper 
into the eyes of the hypnotized person and prevent the effect by suggestion. 

239 



THE FUNDAMENTAL PROBLEMS OF SUGGESTION. 

miracle into a large number of microscopically small ones, for 
each atom has to act at a distance npon the next one. And if it 
is claimed that the action of atom upon atom is by impact, then 
we are arguing in a circle, for the laws of impact are explained 
by elasticity, and elasticity is conditioned on the possibility of 
deformation, that is, a change in the relation between volume and 
surface, and the disarrangement of the spatial relations of the 
particles, which in turn rests on the existence of interstices be- 
tween these particles. But then either the atom consists of 
smaller parts with interstices between them, and we stand again 
before the original problem, or the atom is simple, and then it is 
nonsense to attribute elasticity to it. Thus we have seen that the 
miracle of the force which acts at a distance has to be accepted. 
"Now if we do not wonder at gravitation, light, magnetism, trans- 
mitted through space, if we see in wireless telegraphy electricity 
accomplish work at great distances, why should we wonder at 
the molecular movements of one brain influencing another, if the 
latter is somewhat harmoniously tuned for it? Just as well as 
electric waves may penetrate filled and empty space without visi- 
ble effect, except that on an especially arranged receiver, so the 
molecular movements going on in the central office of the ma- 
chinery of the human body, the brain, may be propagated, radiated 
into space by means of ether vibrations. Such cerebral waves, as 
we may call them, certainly exist, although we have not yet in our 
days constructed an artificial receiver for them. But there are 
natural receivers in other brains of like or similar disposition. 
Thus telepathy is no greater enigma to physical science than the 
propagation of light, or gravitation. But after all, there are 
underlying the physical problems of the distant-acting forces 
questions whose solution is usually taken for granted, when no 
solution is possible. The usual discussion of forces which act at 
a distance presupposes objectivity of space and time, to assume 
which we have absolutely no right. ~No matter how strong may 
be our "belief" in space and time existing independently of our 
consciousness, we have no "knowledge" of such space and time. 
Space and time are, so to speak, the instruments by which we 
grasp this world of ours. It is as if we had made a contract with 
an unseen power, the Creator, by which He lets us have the use 

240 



THE FUNDAMENTAL PROBLEMS OF SUGGESTION. 

of a pair of glasses, space and time. We are allowed to appre- 
hend, to perceive, as long as we apply these glasses. Thus we 
may have the joy of viewing the whole world through these spec- 
tacles, but as soon as we would take them off to look at them we 
are struck with blindness. Even the attempt to take them off is 
impossible because of the contract. We can never know what 
space and time really are, if they are anything at all outside of 
our consciousness. Thus when the lease of these powerful spec- 
tacles expires, i. e., v/hen we close our eyes of space and time, we 
may open others on which there is no restriction, and all the 
miracles with regard to space and time, light, gravitation, elec- 
tricity, telepathy may assume an entirely different aspect, and the 
problem of the forces acting at a distance may be no longer an 
enigma. 

In the- foregoing we have always assumed that the hypnotized 
person when under the influence of suggestion has really the 
sensations he is alleged to have, and which he himself by his 
words and actions, asserts he has. Here is just the weak point of 
the discussion of hypnotic experiments. We do not know whether 
the hypnotized person has the alleged sensations, or whether he 
only says he has. This does not mean that the hypnotized is a 
deceiver, for we all continually do this kind of lying. We say 
we see a house, and we would swear to our knowledge of the 
house having four walls, being hollow inside, and furnished. But 
it is not true. We see only one or two walls at a time and we 
supplement what we actually perceive by that which we think 
we know is there, but which is only the product of association or 
auto-suggestion. Just as we in this case are under the ban of the 
authority of common belief and our own former experiences, so 
also the hypnotized is under the power of the hypnotist. We 
state things as absolutely certain, although we have never experi- 
enced or proved them, simply because some authorities in whom 
we trust, or the majority of the people we know say so. Every- 
body "knows" that we cannot reach the age of 200 years, al- 
though there is absolutely nothing which could prevent a man 
who is 100 or 120 years old from living 20 years longer and so 
on. It might be that this unfounded but firm conviction prevents 
many old people from reaching a still greater age. 

2|I 



THE FUNDAMENTAL PROBLEMS OF SUGGESTION. 

So the hypnotized accepts as truth whatever he is told by the 
hypnotist. It is very questionable whether these sensations pro- 
duced by suggestion approach in vividness those of normal life. 
I am inclined to think they are by no means as vivid as those of 
dreams or sleep-walking. They are perhaps different from mem- 
ory-images and the products of imagination only by the greater 
degree of attention which is paid to them. That the alleged 
visual sensations produced by suggestion lack some of the quali- 
ties which real sensations have has been proved by experiment. 
The hypnotized perceives even things which are impossible, be- 
cause contradictory. Thus, for instance, in a hypnotic seance in 
Leipsic where all efforts of a professional hypnotizer to hypnotize 
scientifically educated people failed, an uneducated laborer who 
was called in was hypnotized by a few movements of the hand 
before his face. I then suggested to the subject that a green 
monkey was sitting on the window-sill, and he somewhat osten- 
tatiously enjoyed this unusual sight. When I told him that the 
green monkey was red he "saw" this also, and declared that he 
beheld a green monkey which was red all over. Some experi- 
ments to test whether the hypnotized would see the after-images 
of a suggested color failed completely. Sometime ago Professor 
Kuelpe in Wuerzburg made some surprising experiments which 
proved absolutely that the hypnotized does not see the suggested 
color but the real one, no matter what he states to the contrary. 
For instance, show a hypnotized person a blue-green surface with 
a gray spot on it, after suggesting to him that the surface is yel- 
low. When asked what the color of the spot is he does not see it 
as he should if the yellow was real in sensation; namely, blue, 
but, like any ordinary observer, he sees it tinged with the contrast 
color of the blue-green; namely, red. A still more striking proof 
is Professor K/ulpe's experiment with optical illusions. 

Perhaps the reader knows the so-called Zoellner's figure, in 
which a number of parallel lines look very unparallel on account 
of a number of small lines which obliquely intersect them. A 
subject was told as a post-hypnotic suggestion that he would see 
a number of straight lines and nothing else on a white surface, 
After being awakened the subject was shown Zoellner's figure. 
He denied absolutely that he saw anything else than the big 

242 



THE FUNDAMENTAL PROBLEMS OF SUGGESTION. 

lines. Every tiling else was perfectly white, but when asked 
about the direction of the lines, he saw them not parallel as they 
really were, but converging and diverging, that is, with the same 
illusion which other people had when under the influence of the 
intersecting lines. Thus he claimed that he did not see the cause 
of the illusion but yet he had the illusion correctly. It must bo 
remarked that the subject had no knowledge whatever about 
optical illusions and Zoellner's figure. A similar proof can be 
obtained with the often repeated experiment of suggesting the 
absence or vanishing of an object or person. It is true that the 
subject, when asked to count the objects or persons, will not in- 
clude the one in question; he will not take any notice of it, but 
when ordered to walk in the direction of it, he will never run into 
it, but carefully go round. If you ask him what he sees in the 
place of the vanished object or person, his answers show plainly 
that he does not see the objects behind it. He gives evasive 
answers or, as it mostly occurs, he tells a lie ; namely, he says, "I 
see nothing." If the object in question had really vanished he 
should see things behind it, but just his "nothing" shows that 
there is some untruth in his statement, for nobody can ever "see 
nothing." Every part of his vision field must be filled with some 
impression. The hypnotized, so to say, "sees" the person, or ob- 
ject whose disappearance has been suggested to him, but he does 
not want to see it. By his own will and in strict obedience to that 
of the hypnotist he avoids any considerable attention being be- 
stowed on that part of this actual experience. The phenomena of 
hypnotic suggestion is partly caused by the untruth of the sub- 
ject. It is not the wilful lie of the imposter, but the careless lie of 
him who blindly accepts everything from authority, and in this 
sense the effect of hypnotic suggestion is only gradually different 
from the so-called ordinary course of mental events. Here, too, 
nine-tenths of our thoughts and actions are not the result of 
actual experience and of spontaneous and consistent reasoning, 
but of blind submission to authority, either our own (habit), or 
that of others (imitation). 

That the statements of hypnotized persons, although deviat- 
ing from truth (because contradictory) are not mere wilful lies, 
is clearly shown by the fact that not only the flow of presentative 

243 



THE FUNDAMENTAL PROBLEMS OF SUGGESTION. 

states but also the emotional can be essentially changed by sug- 
gestion. It is possible to dispel pain by suggestion. The pins 
you stick into a subject's cheek, chin, hand, or ear cause no pain. 
But it must be noted here that the relation between the intellec- 
tual and emotional side of consciousness is much more intimate 
than we usually like to admit. A good deal of what we regard as 
bodily pain is simply imaginary, and its characteristic "painfull- 
ness" consists far less in the direct sensation than in the accom- 
panying disagreeable thoughts. The most unendurable tooth- 
ache consists, if closely examined, of a certain somewhat disagree- 
able sensation accompanied by ideas about its indefinite duration. 
The alleged painfulness of being wounded with piercing or sharp 
instruments consists chiefiy in the disagreeable suggestions of 
dangerous destruction to vital parts. When such infliction ac- 
tually occurs the afflicted very often notices the first pain only 
when by some accompanying phenomenon, such as flow of blood 
or difficulty of his movements, the dangerous state is suggested. 
The agony of death would lose most of its gruesome aspect were 
it not for the conventional dread which we nourish in our imag- 
ination with regard to this event. In other words, pain would 
not be what it is if it were not for the accompanying ideas which 
are the products of suggestion and auto-suggestion. Thus only 
can we understand that the hypnotized, being prevented from 
paying attention to the event which is painful under ordinary 
circumstances, escapes from suffering ; thus only can we conceive 
the possibility of occurrences like those reported from mediaeval 
times, where martyrs and those unfortunates accused of witeh- 
caft and sorcery underwent horrible tortures apparently without 
pain. Without surrendering to the doctrine of the Christian 
Scientists, that all evil is a product of imagination, we have to 
admit that a great deal of the "painfulness of pain" is due to sug- 
gestion and auto-suggestion, and, consequently, we need not won- 
der that it is possible to dispel this part of pain by the same means 
to which that part owes its existence. 

The foregoing considerations may be summed up in the fol- 
lowing propositions: 

1. There is no essential difference between the phenomena 
of hypnotic suggestion and other human utterances and actions 

244 



THE FUNDAMENTAL PKOBLEMS OP SUGGESTION. 

"brought about by the authoritative influence of principles, indi- 
vidual or aggregated human wills. 

2. Verbal suggestion plays a powerful role not only in 
seances of professional hypnotists, etc., but also in what we are 
accustomed to regard as the normal procedure in private and 
public life, in art and science. . 

3. The chief problem of suggestion is not so much, why does 
the hypnotized experience what the hypnotist orders, as, whv 
does the hypnotized say (by words or actions) that he does so 
experience it ? 

4. The mystery of telepathy is not, in the least, greater than 
that of the propogation of light, electricity, or gravitation. 

5. If pain is partly a product of suggestion we need not 
wonder that it may be partly dispelled by suggestion. 



245 



HYPNOTISM AND THE WILL. 

By JAMES ROLAND ANGELL, Director of the Psychological Labo- 
ratory, University of Chicago. 

The practical significance of hypnotism arises at the point 
where it comes in contact with the will. For the layman, there- 
fore, who desires an intelligent acquaintance with the general 
import of hypnotic phenomena, this phase of the subject is prob- 
ably of more importance than any other. The present paper 
offers an outline sketch of the fundamental facts and relations 
which are here involved. It will be convenient to consider first 
the certain rudimentary facts about the will itself, reserving for 
subsequent discussion its behavior under hypnosis. So many 
serious misconceptions are prevalent regarding the nature of the 
will, that we shall devote a somewhat disproportionate part of our 
space to its consideration. This is the more necessary, inasmuch 
as erroneous impressions on this point are fatal to any intelligent 
appreciation of the significance of hypnotism. 

Common parlance and popular prejudice are at one in regard- 
ing the will as some kind of independent entity, to which all 
other mental faculties are subordinate. Thus a man's failure to 
resist temptation is often referred to his failure to exercise his 
will as though his will were a separate member, like his arm, 
which he might utilize or neglect as he pleased. For purely 
practical purposes, such a conception as this is often sufficiently 
accurate. But modern psychology, in its search for a really 
scientific knowledge of the mind, has had to discard this idea of 
the will as purely fictitious. All its efforts to discover any such 
independent sovereign have issued in failure. It has, however, 
renlaced this old fashioned myth with a much more substantial 
and intelligible representative. This will of modern psychology 
is neither more nor less than the whole mind viewed as active, as- 
choosing, selecting, deliberating, etc. 

It is not possible, at this time, to examine all the evidence for 
this psychological doctrine. But the most cursory examination 
of any typical instance of the exercise of will, reveals the presence 

246 



HYPNOTISM AND THE WILL. 

of factors clue to numerous other mental processes, and so displays 
at once the fallacy of the conception of a will acting in indepen- 
dence of the other parts of the mind. The man deliberating 
whether he shall give alms to the pathetic beggar has his mind 
filled with various antagonistic ideas, which depend upon his 
powers of memory. His recollections of previous frauds per- 
petrated by beggars, his reminiscences of sociological doctrines, 
condemnatory of miscellaneous philanthropy, all struggle against 
his tendency to give. His vision of the suffering which may 
ensue from his refusal, involves the most vivid activity of his 
imagination. Moreover, the whole situation appeals to his emo- 
tions and feelings and it becomes at once obvious that his decision 
so far from being the expression of an isolated faculty of will, is 
wholly the outcome of processes in which memory, imagination 
and feeling are all conspicuous. The simplest method for secur- 
ing a definite impression of the significance of this view of the 
will, as equivalent to the whole mind regarded as active, is gained 
by looking at the facts of development in the child. The infant 
is endowed at birth with a nervous svstem in which are imbedded 
numerous tendencies for the production of impulsive and in- 
stinctive movements. The act of sucking, for example, belongs 
to the instinctive class; the random spasmodic movements of the 
child's limbs belong to the impulsive acts. These activities sub- 
serve two useful purposes. In the first place, they bring the 
child into contact with new portions of his environment and so 
get up the sensational and perceptive processes by means of which 
he comes to know his world. In the second place, they teach the 
child what feelings belong to the movements of his several mem- 
bers, and so furnish him with the rudiments of voluntary control ; 
viz., the control of his muscles. The child obviously cannot will 
to raise his hand, until he knows what it is to raise his hand, that 
is to say — what it feels like. Before he gets his experience by 
means of these impulsive movements, he cannot know what to 
will at, his willing can have no object. What is true of so sim- 
ple a matter as raising the hand is clearly much more significant 
when we come to the complex cases of adult conduct, involving 
long and complicated activities like writing and speaking. We 



247 



HYPNOTISM AND THE WILL. 

cannot, in any true sense, will complex acts before we Have had 
some knowledge of such acts, so that our willing may have some 
object. "We must have some ideas representing the acts at which 
mentally we may aim. And we cannot execute the muscular 
movements expressive of such willing, until we have learned to 
control our muscles through the experiences already described as 
going on in infancy and childhod. It is thus seen that volition, in 
the form with which as adults we are most familiar, is a highly 
developed result, based on the employment of sensations and 
ideas, which serve as the symbols of certain movements. Investi- 
gation shows that by calling up these ideas and fixing our atten- 
tion rigidly upon them, the appropriate movement follows, wheth- 
er it be a contraction of the muscles used in enunciation or of 
those involved in walking. From this fact it ensues that attention 
is the all-important element in the execution of a volition. What 
we attend to, we do, other things equal. Why this should be so 
is another question. Psychologists are, however, practically 
unanimous in their agreement, that the only thing which nor- 
mally prevents any idea, to which we attend, from issuing at 
once in aporopriate action, is the presence of some one or more 
antagonistic ideas. In every case of difficulty in reaching a deci- 
sion, whether the difficulty is purely intellectual, as in the case 
of a comp]ex mathematical problem, or more distinctly emo- 
tional as in the case of moral crises, it will be found that the hard 
thing is the attending to one idea. Other competitors will force 
themselves upon our attention. When finally we do succeed in 
holding one idea firmly before us to the exclusion of others, the 
struggle is over and the decision is made. 

A little observation will probably convince anyone, that in 
the case of learning to make new and unfamiliar muscular move- 
ments, as in acquiring the ability to play a musical instrument, 
we do thus rivet our attention upon the sensations and ideas of 
movement. But it will also be contended, that just in the degree 
in which we secure mastery over the instrument, do we cease to 
think of the movements or attend to the sensations which they 
cause, Furthermore, it will be insisted, that in the more impor- 
tant forms of volition, in connection with which we reach deci- 



248 



HYPNOTISM AND THE WILL. 

sions affecting the general trend of our lives, we are never for a 
moment conscious of ideas of movement, or anything remotely 
related thereto. 

This position contains the old fallacy of attempting to under- 
stand an organic process without reference to its growth. It is 
true that, after we have strenuously worked with the immediate 
sensations and ideas of movement and succeeded in securing the 
rudiments of the technique of our musical instrument, the mere 
thought of melody, which we desire to play, may be the only 
idea in our minds and still be followed by all the appropriate 
muscular movements of hands and arms. This abilitv to employ 
the idea of the melody, as the symbol of the correct movements 
and the signal for their execution is, however, always a secondary 
phenomenon, resting invariably upon antecedent processes (now 
superseded because no longer necessary) in which the idea of 
movement were absolutely indispensable, and similarly with all 
cases of decisions and choices affecting the general course of our 
conduct, e. g., the choosing of a career. To make any such deci- 
sion really affective, action will be necessary and this action will 
involve muscular control, even in cases where the decision may 
seem to affect results merely in consciousness, as in a resolution 
to continue a course of reflection. So that however remote ideas 
of movement may seem to be from certain acts of volition, they 
will always be found involved in the development of the mere 
capacity of voluntary control and in the ultimate expression of 
voluntary action. 

We may summarize our analysis thus far in two fundamental 
propositions, which we shall find of utmost value when we 
come to consider the bearings of hypnotism on the will. (1) Any 
idea attended to so firmly as to exclude other ideas from the mind, 
is followed invariably, apart from disease, by appropriate muscu- 
lar movement. (2) In the development of voluntary action, the 
ideas first used are those which spring immediately from sensa- 
tions of movement, but ultimately, under the law of association, 
any idea, however remotely connected with the movement, may 
be employed as the symbol and signal for the movement. Volun- 



249 



HYPNOTISM AND THE WILL. 

tary action always involves attention to some such idea for its 
execution. 

, It will, of course, be understood that in the development of 
our conduct and character, our emotions, instincts, desires and 
feelings of every kind play a most important part. But they 
always come to light in connection with ideas of one or another 
kind, and as it seems to be with these ideas that attention is 
chiefly busied, the description which we have just given remains 
entirely correct in its outlines. Whatever purchases our undi- 
vided attention results in producing an appropriate action as we 
have previously observed. It does not in anv way lessen the 
accuracy of this statement, or prevent our using it for the pur- 
pose of the widest interpretation, that now and again emotions, 
or pleasures, or pains, enter in to evoke or repel this attention. 

Clearly, if the general conception of volition which we have 
now gained is correct, the man with the best disciplined will 
power is the man in whom action is deferred, until all the ideas 
and considerations which bear significantly on the case in hand 
are brought up from his memory and carefully weighed, but who 
then acts promptly and vigorously. Mental diseases illustrate 
most strikingly the two great defects arising from failure to con- 
form, with one part or the other of these two requirements for 
effective willing. On the one hand are the maniacs in whom the 
profuse rush of ideas is followed bv immediate and tempestuous 
movement without affording opportunity for antagonistic and 
inhibiting considerations to be suggested. On the other hand are 
the melancholiacs, in many of whom normal action is inhibited 
by the presence of morbid and persistent ideas, which cannot be 
banished. The pendulum of sane, healthful volition swings 
between these extremes. Conduct cannot be wholly sound, if it 
results from too hasty and impulsive decision. It cannot be 
effective, at all, however, unless conclusions, when once reached, 
are put into forcef A execution. Bearing in mind the facts we 
have now brought out, we shall find it possible to appreciate the 
significance of hypnotism for volition with relative ease. 

Like normal sleep, the sleep of hypnosis may vary from a 
condition of mere drowsiness to a state of the most profound and 

250 



HYPNOTISM AND THE WILL. 

lethargic slumber.* Certain of the conditions which are found, 
closely resemble natural somnambulism. The phenomena, which 
are met with in these different hypnotic conditions, so far as they 
concern the will, are essentially of like character, but they differ 
widely from one another in degree. Sometimes the subject is 
apparently paralyzed and entirely helpless; sometimes he dis- 
plays, on the other hand, remarkable muscular power and agility; 
again he may perform ordinary acts in a perfectly ordinary man- 
ner, so that an uninformed onlooker would never suspect that 
he was hypnotized. These three forms of behavior agree in this, 
however, that they are in every case, practically without excep- 
tion, the results of suggestions given directly or indirectly by the 
operator. These suggestions, nevertheless, are adopted with 
various degrees of readiness. Sometimes the response is prompt 
and unhesitating. Sometimes it is slow and reluctant. Some- 
times it is absolutely inhibited. Taking these elementary facts, 
we shall now examine them in the light of our previous analysis 
of the nature of the will. 

We have already seen that every voluntary act is brought 
about by fixing our attention firmly upon the idea which repre- 
sents the act. Now, everything which we see or hear or other- 
wise perceive and attend to, does in a rudimentary way, suggest 
an act to us. The sound of a bell suggests turning the head, the 
sight of a clock suggests going to dinner, etc. It has thus seemed 
very natural to connect this fact of our tendency to respond, 
under normal waking conditions to the suggestions given us by 
our surroundings, with the exaggerated facilitv and promptness 
with which response is made in hypnosis. The most extreme case 
of hypnotic suggestibility would thus be regarded as one termi- 
nus of a series, whose other terminus is found in common, wak- 

*In fairness to the non-professional reader, who is not personally conver- 
sant with the facts, a word of warning is eminently appropriate as to the 
chaotic conditions, which are manifested by the opinions of hypnotic experts. 
To beg-in with, both literature and practical therapeutics have been exploited 
by quacks dealing in hypnotism, and many popular misconceptions have 
their origin here. Furthermore, there is among even the scientific students 
cf the subject radical difference of opinion on a number of fundamental 
points. The fact is that accurate observation and intelligent explanation in 
this field demand the most highly trained i>sychological knowledge, Very 
few of the investigators of hypnotism have possessed such knowledge. The 
consequence is that dogmatism regarding both facts and explanations is ex- 
ceedingly dangerous and should be looked upon with suspicion. The writer 
presents here what is believed to be the present opinion of the most scien- 
tific and conservative authorities. His own observations are entirely corrob- 
borative of this view. 

251 



HYPNOTISM AND THE WILL. 

ing consciousness. The chief difference between the two types 
resides in the relatively complete suppression in hypnosis of the 
competing and antagonistic ideas, which in normal consciousness 
intervene to prevent the too speedy execution of a suggestion. As 
has been said above, these antagonistic ideas are not, however, 
always suppressed. Some suggestions are vigorously refused. 
Still the distinction is, in the main, applicable to the vast majority 
of cases, and so far as concerns volition then, we may say unhesi- 
tatingly that this suppression of inhibiting ideas opposed to the 
given suggestion is the great differentia of hypnosis. There are 
other conditions generally present, such as loss of memory, which 
mark it off in other directions from normal consciousness, not to 
mention the production under suggestion of anaesthesias, analge- 
sias, hyperesthesias, illusions and hallucinations. But this is the 
distinguishing characteristic on the side of the will. It may be 
added, moreover, that so far as concerns this phase of the phenom- 
ena, it is a matter of entire indifference what method is pursued 
to induce hypnosis, whether gradual awakening from natural 
sleep, the use of passes and massage, fixation of the eyes or "talk- 
ing sleep. 7 ' The result is alike in all cases. 

Let it be clearly understood that no thoroughly satisfactory 
explanation of how hypnosis produces this suppression of ideas 
antagonistic to the operator's suggestion, is as yet at hand. Our 
statement merely marks the fact and connects it by contrast with 
the conditions in normal willing, given the unopposed idea, and 
we have seen that normally the act invar iablv follows. These 
conditions are precisely fulfilled in hypnosis. 

This leads us to two practical questions of great interest. Can 
a person be hypnotized against his will? Can a person, when 
hypnotized, be forced Lo perform deeds which, in his nor- 
mal condition, he would regard as indelicate, wrong or 
criminal? The first question may be answered with an almost 
unqualified negative. 2sTo person can be hypnotized a first time, 
if he believes himself able to resist. Persons who have been hyp- 
notizd many times may fall asleep upon receiving some of the 
customary signals, without having definitely intended to do so. 
There are, moreover, a few rare cases in which it appears that 

252 



HYPNOTISM AND THE WILL. 

persons having, for some reason or other, persuaded themselves 
they could not resist the influence of a certain operator, straight- 
way yield to his suggestions, even against their seeming desire. 
Psychologically this is not difficult to account for. It is simply 
the case in which, as in certain morbid obsessions, the idea of 
yielding gains ascendancy in the mind for some reason or other, 
and attention being absorbed in it, action as usual follows. Such 
instances are, however, as rare as white crows and for the average 
person hypnosis will be found something which he must assidu- 
ously woo, if he would possess the experience, not something 
which he need fear. The best statistics seem to show that every 
sane, healthy person is essentially susceptible to hypnosis, if Jie 
attempt is repeated often enough. But the number of persons, 
who can be hypnotized at the first attempt is much smaller, vary- 
ing widely with the skill of the individual operator. 

The second question has been a subject of decidedly heated 
controversy among the experts. From a study of the psychology 
of volition we have seen, that any act will be executed provided 
all opposing ideas can be suppressed. Theoretically, there is no 
reason why such suppression in hypnosis should not be as com- 
plete in cases involving criminal acts, as in any others. But in 
point of fact the vast majority of experiments go to show that 
practically you cannot get the hypnotized subject to do anything 
which would normally offend his sense of right or decency. On 
the other hand, an increased delicacy and sensitiveness is often 
met with. The cases which seem to prove the contrary are 
mainly susceptible of very different interpretation — i. e., the 
belief of the subject that the whole performance is histrionic. 
One can hardly say dogmatically that the performance of crimi- 
nal acts in hypnosis is impossible, but it certainly can be said that 
its occurrence is as rare as a third term in the presidency, and 
that irresponsibility for acts done in hypnosis should never be ac- 
cepted without most searching scrutiny. 

Another phase of the same question of practical interest 
arises in connection with so-called post-hypnotic suggestion, 
whereby an act suggested during hypnotic sleep is executed at a 
fixed time after waking without any consciousness on the part of 

253 



HYPNOTISM AND THE WILL. 

the subject, that he is responding to a suggestion. The genuine- 
ness of this phenomena seems past any impeachment. On the 
practical side, we may reply much as to the last question, that the 
subject will not under such conditions violate his sense of right 
and decency, and if he does so, he should be held strictly account- 
able until he can produce irrefutable evidence of his irresponsi- 
bility. The psychological machinery involved is in many cases 
very clear. Although upon awakening, the subject may not 
remember that any such suggestion was made to him concerning 
his future conduct. The idea becomes operative in his mind 
almost immediately after its implanting, and keep recurring to 
him until the appropriate time for its expression, whereupon it 
issues in an act. Much of the mysteriousness of the performance 
vanishes, when this explanation of it is found to fit the facts, and 
the writer has repeatedly verified its accuracy. 

A final question of practical importance may be mentioned. 
Is the effect of hypnotism upon the will, mentally and morally 
disastrous or otherwise ? It is commonly supposed that only per- 
sons of weak will can be hypnotized and it is a natural conclusion 
from this, that the result of hypnosis, which renders one more 
susceptible to succeeding hypnotization, must be a weakening of 
the will. Now, it is to be remarked that the phrase "a. weak 
will" is vagueness incarnate. If, by a weak will, is meant one 
incapable of sustained attention, then this is almost a preventive 
of hypnosis. Idiots and young children cannot be hypnotized. 
If, by a strong will, is meant one which refuses to obey the direc- 
tions necessary for falling asleep, then only persons of weak will 
can be hypnotized. From our discussion of will w T e say that 
persons have at least ineffective wills, whether we call them weak 
wills or not, who are either unable to summon the various ideas 
bearing upon a given question before acting, or who are incapable 
of bringing themselves to act, when once they have thus surveyed 
the grc^ id. Extreme representations of either of these classes 
are not good hypnotic subjects. The first class cannot fixate 
attention long enough for success, the second class cannot make 
up their minds fully to make the attempt. 

From a common-sense point of view, as regards normal man's 
sanity and general powers of self-control, occasional hypnotizing 

254 



HYPNOTISM AND THE WILL. 

by an intelligent operator, lias practically no more effect than an 
occasional cnp of cofTee. If a careless or incompetent operator is 
allowed to hypnotize one,then considerable subsequent discomfort 
may be experienced, springing either from crude methods of 
securing the sleep, or from the giving of disturbing and exciting 
suggestions. But the dangers from the use of hypnosis arise 
wholly from its employment by ignorant or unscrupulous per- 
sons. Under proper conditions, it may be made to contribute to 
independence and stability of character. It is itself based upon 
a voluntary act and should not be thought of as consisting primar- 
ily in a helpless subserviency to some other personality. Its pos- 
sibilities in the educational field are only just beginning to sug- 
gest thems dves. In the field of therapeutics it has already shown 
its significance for the treatment of various functional disorders, 
thus illustrating once again, that which all modern psychology 
exhibits, the vital interconnection of the mind and the body. 



255 



THE RELATION OF HYPNOTISM AND SUGGESTION. 

By A. M. BLEILE, M. D., Ohio State University. 

Of all the phenomena connected with hypnotism that of 
"suggestion" is so striking and so evident that to the lay mind it 
overshadows all else. It seems to be so far removed from any- 
thing in the ordinary state that it wears the air of the supernatu- 
ral. All the more so, since charlatans, and even enthusiastic 
honest operators, through unconscious imposition, often have 
pushed this phase until the capacity of the credulous has been 
taxed to the utmost limit, and conservative persons have turned 
from the whole subject in disgust, condemning even that which is 
true and really exists. A closer analysis will show, however, that 
we have in hypnotism and suggestion, merely states and effects 
which have their parallel in the ordinary sleeping, nay, even in 
the waking state. In man the hypnotic state is made up of two 
elements, — one resembling the condition more or less closely 
which we call "sleep," and like it, induced by monotonous impres- 
sions coupled with fatigue; the other, — the state of "suggestibil- 
ity," the capacity to receive the so-called suggestions, in which 
the will and the phantasy of the subject are under the control and 
direction of the operator. This direction may be exercised by- 
spoken- words, as is usually done, by showing of objects, by placing 
the limbs in a certain position, or by any sign or means of com- 
munication. For a comprehension, then, of suggestion, it will be 
necessary to review the mental and physical states in ordinary 
sleep. In ordinary sleep, we have a condition which comes on 
■periodically, and in which the higher functions of the brain are 
for the time abolished or much reduced in activity, the lower 
ones, however, as those which control breathing and the beating 
of the heart are still active. Impressions made on the sense organs 
attain to no influence on the soul life; they produce no percep- 
tions, much less a train of co-ordinated thought. A sound, a 
spoken word, for instance, reaches the ear; it sets the auditory 
apparatus in motion, the impression is carried into the brain, but 
yet, it does not come to our perception or give a lucid concept 
because the higher parts of the brain where these processes go on, 

256 



THE RELATION OF HYPNOTISM AND SUGGESTION. 

are for the time incapable of work, — are asleep. There are various 
stages or degrees of sleep. Once it is so deep that the greatest 
disturbances are passed over, then again so light that the slight- 
est impression will drive it away, — sometimes absolutely dream- 
less, at other times sleep is filled with dreams of which — and this 
is a point to be noted — we may have indistinct and confused 
recollection only, or it may be that every detail can be vividly 
recalled, just as in the hypnotic state we may have complete 
oblivion of what has passed during that period, or the subject 
may remember all that has transpired. Rarely are our dreams 
logical or rational in all of their details; usually some of their 
occurrences are more or less senseless. We jump a thousand 
feet, traverse miles of country in an instant, or do similar impos- 
sible feats without surprise. This shows that only some of the 
brain functions, as fancy and recollection, are concerned, are 
awake, whereas the ordering, reasoning faculties are in abeyance, 
are asleep. Through external irritation of the nerves, dreams 
may be artificially produced with, generally, a gross misconception 
of the cause actually existing. The sound of running water has 
produced dreams of rains and summer showers ; a rapping on the 
door has called up pictures of cannonading; just as in the hyp- 
notic state it is possible to see a bird instead of the handkerchief 
actually in view or taste an apple for the raw potato which is be- 
ing chewed. Muscular movements may be executed during sleep. 
Riders and drivers often sleep during their time of duty without 
dropping their reins or falling off their seats. Movements may 
be made as the result of external impressions. If, during sleep, 
the foot becomes uncovered and chilled it will be drawn back. 
Tickling may cause movements indicating dissatisfaction or even 
attempts to push the offending object away, all without awaken- 
ing the person. So, too, a command may be followed, as when a 
child is told to turn over in bed or extend an arm. Here, again, 
is a train of occurrences found in the hypnotic state. Another 
fact connected with sleep throws further light on this subject, 
which is, that under certain circumstances a certain definite cause 
or stimulus alone will be effective, others not. A mother will fall 
asleep at her baby's side unhampered by surrounding noises, but 
at the first sound of the child's cry she will w T ake; the physician 

257 



THE RELATION OP HYPNOTISM AND SUGGESTION. 

will sleep soundly, maybe, in the heart of the city with all its 
noise and din, but the sovmd of his door or telephone bell, less in- 
tense than surrounding noises, will awaken him instantly, be- 
cause as in the case above, sleep has come with the idea fixed in 
the mind that a certain sound and no other should cause awaken- 
ing; so the hypnotized subject will wake at the command given 
for that purpose and not by other sounds or signals. As already 
stated we find, even in the waking state, conditions like and ex- 
planatory of those found in the hypnotic. Every idea or concep- 
tion formed in man produces in him a certain effect which may 
be internal only, or may find expression in external manifesta- 
tions. If one forms a mental concept of the deluge, a picture of 
j^Toah and his ark will involuntarily arise in the mind. If one 
formulates the idea of fear or of pleasure, this will often produce a 
corresponding change in the facial expression and sometimes even 
movements of various muscles of the body. The effect produced 
by a mental concept will depend largely upon the peculiarities of 
the person, his educational status, character, habits, and mental 
condition at the time. So some persons make "good" hypnotic 
subjects; will respond freely and fully to suggestion. Others are 
"poor" in that the responses are slight and less profuse. All per- 
sons are at times susceptible to "suggestion," to being influenced 
by word or act of others to a greater or lesser degree. In many 
instances a person, A, may, by persuasive talk or action, produce 
a certain intended effect on B, just as the operator does with his 
subject in hypnotic sleep. Even actions not under the control of 
the will may thus be brought about frequently. It is sufficient 
to say to a person slightly embarrassed, "Why are you blushing?" 
to have the reddening of the face actually take place. The term 
"rapport" expresses the, at first sight, 'wonderful fact that the 
subject will readily obey the commands or "suggestions" of the 
operator, but not so readily those of another person. This is 
readily explained by what has already been said and by further 
remembering that no one can be hypnotized against his own Avill. 
He must be in full accord with the operator and goes to sleep 
with the idea fixed in his mind that the operator alone has his 
attention. This is essential for the success of "suggestion." Any 
preconceived resistance to the operator's will before hypnosis, 

258 



THE RELATION OF HYPNOTISM AND SUGGESTION. 

will nullify as it would in the normal state, just as a willingness 
to comply will be followed by such results in either condition. 

Post-hypnotic suggestion has been much discussed as a dem~ 
onstration of the marvels of hypnotism. Here a suggestion is 
made to the hypnotic, which is to be carried out at some future 
time, days, weeks, or months ahead. Dr. Moll says he told a 
subject, ""When you come here eight clays hence you will be 
dumb/ 7 and actually on entering a week later, the individual lost 
his power of speech until the suggestion was removed. 

Lawyers taking advantage of similar statements have in one 
or two criminal cases set up (though unsuccessfully) the plea 
that their clients committed the act as a post-hypnotic suggestion 
and were therefore not the real culprits. 



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